Wolfsbane
by lunakatrina
Summary: Harry gets a new pet over the summer before his third year.  AU, Gen
1. The Runaways

This is just an idea that came to me randomly, it's completely written, but I'm posting it in chapters because it's a bit longer than I'd anticipated.

Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything!

_**Chapter One!**_

Finally a safe enough distance away to rest, Harry dropped his trunk and plopped down on top of it, nerves frazzled and completely exhausted from his hasty and angry escape. He desperately hoped he wouldn't get expelled for what he did to Aunt Marge.

Though she definitely deserved it.

Now, though, Harry was faced with an all new problem, where could he could he go? How could he get far enough away that magical or muggle law enforcement couldn't find him? What if he _was_ expelled?

Harry really felt like crying, but he knew he had to keep it together if he really was going to get away from everyone…or at least the Dursleys.

Then out of the corner of his eye deep in the dark of the alley, Harry saw the shadow of a massive, wild-haired dark dog in the shadows and tried to bite back a scream as he toppled over his trunk-tonight just kept getting worse and worse.

The dog slowly advanced towards him, looking like a monstrous, wild wolf, and then ducked its head down in submission and whined. Shocked, Harry lifted himself up on his elbows and looked at the large beast that had dropped down on its belly and was whimpering, staring plaintively at him.

"Nice doggy," Harry said fearfully, "good doggy."

The dog's head cocked and its mouth opened and its tongue lolled out and it made a soft, questioning "aroo."

"You're friendly?" Harry asked the dog cautiously, "Please don't hurt me."

The dog made a noise like a sneeze and shook its head, and then calmly pranced over to Harry and began sniffing and licking eagerly at his face.

"Ugh!" Harry exclaimed, attempting to shield his face from the dog, "Hey! Stop that!"

The dog began snuffing around his armpit and Harry began giggling uncontrollably because it tickled.

"Come on," Harry squealed, pushing at the dog's head, "leave me alone!"

The dog sat back on its haunches and wagged its tail hard enough to make a thumping noise. Harry pushed himself up off the ground and then settled down onto his trunk to stare at the dog.

"It's funny," Harry told the dog, "I just ran away because a woman was calling my mum a worthless mutt, and now I meet a worthless mutt that's much nicer than her purebred dogs."

The dog's tail stopped wagging and the dog closed its mouth. Harry instantly put up his guard again, and the dog whimpered and slunk up to him to lick his hand. Harry smiled and patted the dog's head, "You're a good dog, aren't you?"

The dog jumped up and wagged its tail so hard his whole back-end followed along too.

Harry giggled and then looked around, standing up and grabbing his heavy trunk, "I should probably go, I did something bad…"

The dog whimpered and began sniffing around Harry and his trunk.

Feeling silly, Harry told the dog, "It was nice to meet you, and I hope you find someone who can take care of you."

Then the dog picked up a stick and offered it to Harry.

"No," Harry told it, "I have to go, I can't play right now."

The dog whined plaintively and nudged Harry's leg.

"Sorry," Harry replied, "I can't."

The dog jumped up on him, it was nearly as tall as he was, and that's when Harry's realized what the dog was holding.

"My wand!" Harry exclaimed and the dog jumped down off him, and Harry took it from the dog's mouth-it was slimy, but at least the dog had known what it was and given it to him. Wait…what?

"You knew?" Harry asked the dog, which wagged its tail and circled happily around him. "Just what sort of dog are you?"

The dog tilted its head and then jumped back up onto Harry, licking his face ferociously.

"Gross!" Harry exclaimed, "No, come on, stop it!"

The dog then jumped up onto Harry's trunk and looked up eagerly at him. Then Harry got a crazy idea.

"Do you want to come with me?" He asked the dog, and the dog barked once in excitement and then hopped down off his trunk.

Off in the distance Harry heard something that sounded like someone yelling his name, the dog's ears perked up and its head turned to look off into the distance.

"Oh no!" Harry whispered, "I've got to get out of here!"

Then the dog jumped up to nudge his arm.

"What is it?" Harry asked. The made a series of whines and whimpers that sounded oddly like he was trying to speak, then he snuffed at the ground and looked around.

"Is there something here?" Harry asked in confusion.

The dog then suddenly looked back into the shadows that he'd come from and took a few steps that way, growling at something.

Alarmed and not wanting to get snuck up on by something else, Harry lifted his wand and said, "_Lumos_!"

A large triple-decker purple bus appeared and the dog bounded back over to Harry, tail wagging eagerly and tongue lolling, as if that's what the dog had been intending all along.

Harry stared at the dog in shock as the door to the bus opened.

The dog sent the entire ride curled up at Harry's feet fast asleep and when the stop for the Leaky Cauldron arrived, he jumped up and eagerly looked to Harry to lead the way.

At the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron, Harry paused and realized that he probably wouldn't be allowed in with his companion.

"I don't know that they'll let me bring a dog in," Harry informed his canine friend, looking downtrodden, "I don't know what to do now."

The dog pawed at the door, not seeming to understand Harry's words.

Harry's trunk weighed heavily on his arms, "What do we do?"

The dog's pawing knocked the door open slightly and the dog stuck its nose in, sniffing eagerly at the smell of food in the air.

"Hey," Harry chided the dog, "you can't go in there."

The door opened all the way and the dog stepped just inside and sat down, staring at Harry. A man stood at the door holding it open, "He can come in so long as he's trained."

"Oh," Harry said brightly and he made his way inside, dragging his trunk behind him.

"You going to be getting a room?" The man asked.

"Yeah," Harry replied.

"Then let me help you," The man said, easily lifting Harry's trunk, "you're thin as a leaf! I'm surprised you got your trunk here by yourself."

Harry bristled at the insults to his physique, the man carried Harry's trunk all the way to the counter, and Harry suddenly realized that the man was Tom, the owner of the Leaky Cauldron. Harry felt embarrassed he hadn't caught on before.

The dog obediently followed behind Harry and Tom.

"Now, if your dog's going to be staying with you, you're going to have to put down a pet deposit," Tom told Harry, "if he tears up anything in the room or makes any 'accidents' it comes out of your pocket, and the dog spends the rest of the time chained out in front."

"Okay," Harry agreed, looking to the dog, "he'll behave, won't you, boy?"

The dog barked once in agreement and wagged his tail.

"I'll believe it when I see it," Tom replied, "dogs'll be dogs. You should give him a bath, too, I don't know what he got into, but it looks rotten."

The dog whined in protest, but once they'd gone up to the room, he sat quietly in the bathtub and allowed Harry to bathe him without any protest. After though, he shook his whole body and covered the entire room and Harry with water. Harry had to chase the dog down and went through several towels before it was finally dry and looking like a completely different dog.

"You could pass as a respectable canine," Harry told him and the dog barked, tail slapping back and forth. "Except for the mess you made!"

Harry examined his clothes and grimaced, "Eugh, gross! Couldn't you have at least kept me dry?"

The dog sneezed a few times in a row and then lay down.

"Well, I think I need to take a shower, now," Harry sighed and pulled of his shirt and to his surprise the dog left the bathroom and went to lay down on the bed and Harry shrugged and closed the door once the dog had left.

When Harry finished showering and dressed in his pajamas, he found the dog curled up on the bed still as if he hadn't moved. The only thing that changed was that next to him was an untouched tray of food for dinner. One of the plates was covered in a disgusting mix of various foods and bones, which Harry realized was for the dog.

He slid it over to the excited dog and began eating his own meal.

Later, Harry dug out some of his schoolbooks and read through them while the dog gnawed on a particularly large bone.

"I should give you a name," Harry realized.

The dog held his paw up in response.

"What is it," Harry asked, as the dog waved his paw. "Is something wrong?"

The dog continued to wave his paw at Harry.

"Is your name Wave?" Harry snorted, "Or Paw? Is that what you're trying to say?"

The dog made a series of noises that sounded like he was trying to speak, but didn't realize he was a dog. Harry laughed and ruffled the dog's fur, "I'll give you a name, don't worry."

Harry looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, "I can't think of anything…I know! I'll just flip through this book and whatever it lands on will be your name!"

The dog looked very alarmed by this and began sniffling at the book, poking the pages with his wet nose.

"Hey, hey," Harry exclaimed, picking up the book, "don't ruin the book!"

The dog whined.

Harry flipped through the book and stopped at a random page, "See look!" Harry cheerfully brandished the page, "It's not so bad! Wolfsbane! That's a pretty cool name, huh?"

The dog snorted and then sneezed several times in a row and Harry beamed and ruffled the newly dubbed Wolfsbane's fur.

That night Harry dreamt that he heard the shower running and Wolfsbane came out of the bathroom, holding shampoo and conditioner bottles in his mouth. He asked Harry which was which because he was a dog and dogs couldn't read. Later Harry dreamt that Wolfsbane went into the bathroom to use the toilet and was even able to flush it, and then Wolfsbane came out and said there was no more toilet paper and he'd have to ask Tom for more.

When Harry woke up, all the toilet paper was indeed gone.


	2. Adventures with Dumbledore

**_Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I really enjoyed reading all your comments! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!_**

**Chapter Two!**

The next morning, Harry and Wolfsbane made their way down to the main room of the Leaky Cauldron where Tom supplied them both with breakfast and then complimented Wolfsbane on his nice, clean coat.

After breakfast, Harry turned to Wolfsbane and asked, "What should we do today, boy?"

"Well, look! It's Harry Potter!" Someone exclaimed, and Harry flushed as nearly everyone in the entire room rushed up to him. To his surprise, Wolfsbane jumped in front of him and growled at the crowd keeping them at bay.

"It's okay, boy," Harry told the dog, calmly, but refrained from touching him. After all, Wolfsbane did seem like a nice dog, but Harry hadn't been exposed to many nice dogs in his life. Wolfsbane ceased his growling and sat down before Harry, looking very protective and on guard.

"Harry Potter! Just where you said he'd be Tom," An oddly dressed man in a bowler hat exclaimed, happily, and without minding the presence of Wolfsbane, walked right up to Harry and shook his hand. "I would've come last night, but you left quite a mess behind and when word came you were safe and tucked in bed, I thought best not to disturb you!"

"I am quite pleased to see you safe as well, my dear boy."

"Headmaster?" Harry exclaimed in shock and turned to look behind him. Dumbledore stood there, by the fireplace looking rather sooty. He held in one hand a very nice looking cage with Hedwig inside. She looked rather unhappy.

"Yes, indeed," the headmaster chuckled, "The minister and I have come to talk to you and return your owl, Hedwig, correct?"

Dumbledore held out the cage and Harry happily took it. He opened the cage and reached in to pet Hedwig, who bit at him in anger before turning away.

"I'm sorry I left you, girl," Harry told her, and it was true. Hedwig twisted her head around to glare at Harry. "I'll get you some really nice owl treats, I promise."

"I see you've found another friend, Harry," the headmaster said brightly, looking down at Wolfsbane who had ducked behind Harry's chair out of shyness. This was surprising to Harry because the dog had just defended him against a room full of strangers.

"Yeah," Harry agreed, "His name's Wolfsbane."

Dumbledore and the other man chuckled.

"But where are my manners!" The man suddenly exclaimed, "I'm Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic."

He grabbed Harry's hand and shook it very firmly.

"When you went missing last night, we were all rather alarmed!" The minister informed him.

"Am I in trouble?" Harry asked, looking fearful.

"Oh, of course not!" The minister replied looking scandalized.

Dumbledore smiled, eyes twinkling, and explained, "It was a rather unfortunate accident, but an accident all the same. Don't worry, all of your relatives are just fine, we managed to reverse all the damage and obliviated everyone."

Harry flushed and looked down at his feet, he could see Wolfsbane's nose peeking out from under the chair.

"Do I have to go back?" Harry asked softly, and Wolfsbane's head peeked out to stare soulfully up at him.

"I think," Dumbledore said thoughtfully, "that you should be just fine staying here; your Aunt and Uncle seemed to be…approving of you spending the remainder of the summer elsewhere. Do you wish to stay here, or shall I find other accommodations?"

"I don't mind staying here," Harry replied, looking up at the two men, "I really don't."

"Then we'll arrange for you to be taken care of, Harry," the headmaster told him with a smile. "Just do be careful to not wander far."

"Yes, do stay within Diagon Alley," The minister insisted.

"Okay," Harry exclaimed, happily. Then he looked under his chair at Wolfsbane, "Did you hear, boy? We get to stay here for the rest of the break!"

Wolfsbane licked his face.

After that the minister quickly headed off and Dumbledore handed Harry his school letter, he'd apparently left it in his haste to get away from the Dursleys…just like he'd left Hedwig. Harry instantly felt extremely guilty.

"Harry," Dumbledore then told him, "I'm free until later this afternoon and if you would like, I could help you get most of your school supplies and then we could have lunch."

Harry beamed and nodded fervently, "That would be great, sir!" Then Harry paused and looked at his animals, "I need to put Hedwig up…can Wolfsbane come with us? Is that allowed?"

"I'm sure if Wolfsbane would like to come and if he is well-behaved it won't be a problem."

Harry smiled happily and took Hedwig up to his room, releasing her and she flew up on top of the wardrobe in Harry's room to sulk, Harry apologized to her once more, then dug out a packet of owl treats, and dumped them all onto the desk of the room.

Wolfsbane watched him as he did this and then looked up to where Hedwig was hiding. Harry then ran back over to the door to go back downstairs so as not to keep Dumbledore waiting, when Wolfsbane barked and walked over to a window and scratched at it, looking to Hedwig once more.

Harry groaned, when he realized he'd almost trapped Hedwig inside and opened up the window for her. Then Harry headed back downstairs, Wolfsbane trotting obediently behind him.

Harry and the headmaster spent a few hours going from store to store, each time Wolfsbane would stop at the door and sit patiently, waiting for Harry to return. Dumbledore was easily distracted by interesting things in the different stores, and would often point them out to Harry and encourage him to buy them.

While in Scribbulus Writing Instruments, Dumbledore found a type of ink called _Gradient's Radiance_ that wrote in a steady stream of ever-changing colors. Then he pointed out a quill that was made of phoenix feather and only wrote in red, no matter what color ink you used. It also had numerous other qualities, which Dumbledore fiercely read while braiding his beard hair, one-handed.

After he'd finished reading, he bought all they had in stock and gave two to Harry as a birthday present.

Then he pulled Harry along to the secondhand robe shop that Mrs. Weasley bought Ron and Ginny's robes from, Dumbledore gleefully began digging though racks of robes and boxes full of robes and every so often he would exclaim and ask Harry to hold the robe for him.

Most of them were particularly awful, but were generally the sort Dumbledore seemed to like. There was one robe that was covered in bubbling cauldrons, another of extremely bright neon yellow, one appearing to be made of denim with frayed hems and holes on the elbows, and one with dancing hedgehogs on it.

Then Dumbledore held a black robe up to Harry's side and said, "I do believe this will work quite well for you, Harry, you'll have to have Madam Malkin take them in a bit, but they'll be just right for you I'm sure."

Then Dumbledore paid for his robes and wouldn't let Harry say no to buying the black robe that Dumbledore had found and Harry grudgingly bought them.

Then Dumbledore decided it was lunchtime and found a place with outdoor tables so Wolfsbane wouldn't have to wait outside, both Harry and Dumbledore snuck the dog food under the table. They spoke of innocuous things, like what classes Harry had chosen for electives and quidditch.

Harry really enjoyed himself, and after lunch they'd gone to Flourish and Blott's to get all of Harry's schoolbooks, and Dumbledore then pointed out a couple of other books that Harry might like to read.

Then Dumbledore walked him back to the Leaky Cauldron, but before he'd flooed back to Hogwarts he told Harry that so long as no one complained, Wolfsbane could come to school with him. For a moment Harry actually felt lonely once the man was gone, but then he'd looked down at Wolfsbane who was dog-grinning at him and smiled.

Harry wrote letters to both Ron and Hermione excitedly telling them of what happened, but Hedwig refused to carry the letters, Harry figured he had better leave her alone for another day. He then spent the rest of the evening reading.

Hedwig stared down, warily, from the top of the wardrobe at Wolfsbane. He was trotting around sniffing things and every so often would run up to Harry to get his head petted or to lay down next him and look at his book.

It was a very pleasant evening, and when dinner arrived, Harry shared some of his food with Hedwig, who still seemed extremely unsure about the presence of the dog in his room.

After dinner, things got a little unusual.

Wolfsbane trotted into the bathroom, shut the door behind him and moments later Harry heard the toilet flush and then Wolfsbane trotted back out of the bathroom to lie back down next to Harry.

Harry was completely dumbfounded by what had just happened.

* * *

Harry spent the rest of the break wandering around Diagon Alley, Wolfsbane trotting behind him and waiting at the shop doors for Harry to come out. When Harry had been in Madam Malkin's for fittings, Wolfsbane watched him from the window.

At the Magical Menagerie, Harry secured some nice treats for both Wolfsbane and Hedwig, who had forgiven him for leaving her after a day or two, thankfully.

Harry made nearly daily trips to Quality Quidditch Supplies and stared covetously at the brand new Firebolt, telling Wolfsbane about how much he loved quidditch and that he was a seeker, and then telling him about some of the more memorable games he'd played. He normally ended up getting an audience of children and adults when he told these stories, and then Harry would realize what happened and quickly run away, embarrassed.

* * *

Tom had taken a liking to Wolfsbane, who he had started calling Bane for short. Harry rather liked the nickname, and was considering doing the same. It seemed Wolfsbane had been the best-behaved dog Tom had ever seen during his time at the Leaky Cauldron.

Wolfsbane seemed to physically react with pride whenever Tom complimented him.

"He must not be all mutt," Tom was telling Harry over lunch one day, "look how well he holds himself. That's probably why he's got such good manners and training too, just enough of a good breed to make him really smart."

Wolfsbane barked and wagged his tail in agreement and Harry smiled down at him.

"He's lucky a nice boy like you found him too, he's put on a lot of weight," Tom added, patting Wolfsbane's side. "He must've been starving when you got here." Tom then turned an examining eye to Harry and added, "Same goes for you, kid, have a second helping! A little meat on your bones will do you a world of good!"

Wolfsbane barked his agreement to that as well.

* * *

That's all for now! Hope you liked it!


	3. The Weasleys

**_Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I really loved reading all your comments! _**

Yet another shopping chapter! I'm sure you're all sooo excited XD

**_Chapter Three!_**

A few days before term began; Harry received a jumbled letter from Ron that had clearly been written in a fit of pure excitement. Ron revealed that his family would be coming to spend the day and night before term started with Harry in Diagon Alley. They too would be staying at the Leaky Cauldron and Hermione would come along too.

Harry whooped with joy and gleefully told Wolfsbane and Hedwig the great news. Wolfsbane seemed to perk up upon hearing that they would be coming here and staying, and followed Harry as he excitedly pranced around the room, trying to grab the letter out of Harry's hand.

Harry woke to pounding on his door.

"Harry! _Harry_!"

"Can ickle Harry-"

"-come out to play?"

"Harry! Wake up! We have shopping to do!"

Wolfsbane was startled awake and stared, balefully at the door; Hedwig lifted her head out from under her wing to look around and then replaced it. Then Mrs. Weasley's voice rose above all the others, "Everyone hush, there are other people staying here you know! Harry knows you're here, and I'm sure he's awake now."

Harry eagerly jumped out of bed, ran over to the door, and threw it open. Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Mrs. Weasley were standing there.

Hermione jumped at Harry and hugged him fiercely, Ron grinned sheepishly at him from next to his brothers. Mrs. Weasley merely looked amused.

"Now, let's give Harry some time to get ready, back downstairs everyone," Mrs. Weasley began shuffling them all back towards the stairs.

"Wait, I have something to show Ron and Hermione," Harry exclaimed, "they can stay, I'll change in the bathroom!"

"What can you show them-"

"-That you can't show us?"

"Nothing," Harry replied, "Come look!"

Harry pulled Ron and Hermione into his room, and they both stopped when they saw Wolfsbane looking at them. Fred and George were behind them and they whistled, clearly impressed. Mrs. Weasley shook her head and headed back downstairs.

"His name's Wolfsbane!" Harry declared proudly.

"Where's he going to stay during school?" Hermione demanded, "He's not on the approved list."

"Dumbledore himself said he could come," Harry announced, beaming, and he closed the door to his room. "Hang on and I'll get ready."

Harry was in the bathroom, dressing, when he heard Hermione's shocked gasp, and then the twins yelling, "He's running away!" followed by mad scrambling. This was followed by Ron screaming in distress, and Harry, half dressed, threw the door open to see what was wrong and was faced with Wolfsbane holding a squirming rat in his mouth.

"Make him put Scabbers down!" Ron squeaked out, "That dumb mutt better not have hurt him!"

Harry reached out for Scabbers who was squirming wildly, and Wolfsbane gently released the rat once Harry had a good hold on him. It was then that Harry noticed Scabbers looked awful.

"What's wrong with him?" Harry asked, shocked.

"Your stupid-"

"He's not stupid!" Harry yelled, "Scabbers isn't hurt at all! Leave Bane alone!"

Ron instantly relaxed upon hearing Scabbers wasn't hurt.

"Is he sick?" Harry asked, examining the terrified rat.

"Probably," Ron sighed looking anxious, "he's been sick for weeks, his hair's falling out, he's lost tons of weight."

"He's going to die."

"He's too old."

"He's not going to die," Ron yelled at his brothers, "he's just a little sick!"

Hermione was nibbling her lip as she studied all of them, and she said, "I think the dog just caught Scabbers so he couldn't run away."

"Probably," Harry agreed, "Wolfsbane's a good dog."

Wolfsbane wagged his tail, proudly.

"You should get him a cage," Hermione said, "if he's sick it'll keep him from running off and getting into trouble, or eating something poisonous. That's probably what happened! He must've accidentally eaten something bad!"

Ron gently took Scabbers from Harry and looked down at his ill pet.

"I have an extra cage for Hedwig," Harry told Ron, "we could ask your mom to make the bars smaller so Scabbers can't get out."

Wolfsbane barked in agreement and trotted over to get the cage Dumbledore had brought Hedwig in.

"It'll be for his own good," Hermione assured Ron, "you can just keep him in there until he's better."

"Not a bad idea," one of the twins told Ron. The second one added, "I don't know why you and Percy left him free all these years anyway, I'm surprised he hasn't tried to run off before."

"Just till he's better," Harry needled Ron with a smile, and he took the cage from Wolfsbane.

Ron hesitantly agreed, and Harry pulled on a shirt and some shoes and the whole group headed downstairs. Ginny looked extremely impressed by Wolfsbane and eagerly patted his head; Percy didn't look the least bit happy that the headmaster had told Harry he could bring a dog to school.

Hermione took the cage to Mrs. Weasley and explained what happened in the room. Mrs. Weasley seemed to think it was a great idea to keep Scabbers put away for the time being, and agreed with Hermione that he'd probably eaten something bad for him and that was why he was sick. Once Mrs. Weasley made the cat rat-proof, Ron had to shove fiercely struggling Scabbers inside and then lock the door behind him.

Then Wolfsbane jumped up, easily unlatched the door with his nose, and then looked to Mrs. Weasley to do something about it, she made the locking mechanism much more complex and then after sarcastically asking Wolfsbane if he approved of it now, Wolfsbane barked and licked her hand.

After that, Ron ran Scabbers up to his room and then met them all back downstairs. Then they all piled out behind the Leaky Cauldron to head into Diagon Alley for shopping.

"I'm all done," Harry informed Ron and Hermione, "Dumbledore took me shopping for most things the day after I got here, and I took care of everything else."

Hermione began eagerly asking about the books they had this year and Ron groaned and turned his attention to Wolfsbane, who yipped happily at him.

"Did Dumbledore buy anything?" One of the twins asked, looking mischievous.

"Some robes and some quills," Harry replied, "and he made me buy a robe, and gave me two of the quills he bought."

"Did he make you buy robes like he wears?" Ron asked, snickering.

"No," Harry replied, firmly, "it was black, nothing special about it-he does all his shopping in the second hand store, you know."

This made all the Weasleys stare at him in shock.

"He told me," Harry insisted, "said he always finds the best robes in secondhand stores."

That made a few of the Weasley children snort as they knew the sorts of things found in secondhand stores.

"The one he made me buy was just black," Harry continued, "it's pretty plain and simple, Madam Malkin had to take it in a lot, but she said I could let it out when I grew. It took her two days to fix! Normally, it only takes her a few minutes!"

"Well, that is odd," Mrs. Weasley commented, not seeming too concerned with the conversation. Then she turned to the group and put her hands on her hips, "Now, I can go and take care of everyone's robes, which means you can go about your own shopping, _but _absolutely _no _leaving Diagon Alley _at all_, no misbehaving, no playing tricks on other people, and no breaking anything! I'll meet you all at Fortescue's at 1 for ice cream."

Immediately, after receiving instructions Fred and George ran off one direction, Ginny tailing after them; Percy another; and Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Wolfsbane headed to the Magical Menagerie.

"I feel left out," Hermione complained, "I'm the only one without a pet, and now Harry has _two_! It's time I got one too!"

They walked in and looked around eagerly for a pet for Hermione; Wolfsbane waited at the entrance, but was sniffing at the shop's entrance, clearly curious about what was inside.

Then an animal trotted over to Wolfsbane and sniffed at him. Harry quickly ran over to retrieve the escapee, but Hermione beat him to it. She swept down, caught the orange creature up in her arms, and began cooing at it.

"Oh, he's perfect!" Hermione exclaimed blissfully and an ugly, smushed cat face lifted out of the protection of her arms.

Ron grimaced at it, and Harry was sure she could find a better-looking cat if she looked a bit harder.

"Look at him," Hermione insisted, holding the cat out at Harry, who finally nodded and lied, "He's a great cat, Hermione!"

Hermione beamed and stroked the striped orange cat's head, "And he likes Wolfsbane too, that's just perfect!"

"Perfect," Ron agreed.

Hermione quickly bounded up to the shopkeeper and purchased the cat on the spot.

"I've never seen her so happy," Harry commented to Ron.

"Well, it's her pet," Ron sighed.

"That's what matters," Harry agreed. "We'll just have to be good friends and not say anything bad about it."

"I'm just glad she asked you first," Ron confided, "I don't think I would've had the brains to lie."

Harry snickered, and then Hermione bounded back over to them, looking like she'd just won the lottery.

"Well," Harry asked with a smile, "shall we take him back to the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Oh yes!" Hermione exclaimed, "And then I can play with him!"

"I think I like this cat," Ron teased with a grin, "if he can get you to stop thinking about books and want to play!"

"You stop that right now, Ron Weasley," Hermione huffed, but she was still smiling.

Harry patted Wolfsbane on the head and they all headed back to the Leaky Cauldron.

* * *

That night after shopping and dinner, they all played a rousing game of exploding snap and Wolfsbane sat next to Harry and would nose the cards to advise Harry on which to play. Then the twins began complaining that he was cheating, and tried to force him to eat their newest invention as punishment.

After all the fun, Harry made his way back to his own room, but stopped when he heard voices. Bane looked up at him in confusion.

"They still haven't found Sirius Black."

Harry identified the voice as belonging to Mr. Weasley.

"What do you think he's up to?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"It's fairly obvious," Mr. Weasley sighed, "They heard him in his cell, talking in his sleep saying, 'He's at Hogwarts.' He could only be talking about Harry. They think he's going to try to finish the job he started thirteen years ago and kill him."

Harry froze and looked to Wolfsbane for some sort of comfort. Bane, however, looked frozen in place and was staring pointedly in the direction of the voices, then the dog whined, and grabbed Harry's sleeve to pull him away.

"No, wait," Harry murmured, wanting to hear more. Wolfsbane wouldn't have any of it though and began whining louder, and Harry knew if he didn't go now then Bane would surely attract the Weasleys' attention and he wouldn't hear anymore anyway.

* * *

Next time, the Hogwarts Express :O


	4. Hogwarts Express

**_Thanks to those who reviewed, it's always nice to hear from you!_**

Just a warning for this chapter...you're probably not going to like Remus...at all in this entire story, which pains me, because I love Remus...

**_Chapter Four!_**

The next morning, after Hermione and Ron encouraged him to wear the robes Dumbledore had made Harry buy. The entire group piled into magical cars and were driven over to King's Cross. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Wolfsbane, Scabbers, and the cat Hermione decided to call Crookshanks all got to ride in a car together, but then at the last second Ginny squeezed in and smiled sheepishly. Now Harry couldn't tell them about the conversation he'd overheard the night before.

Scabbers was running around his cage trying to find any way out and Ron was doing his best to soothe the rat, while Crookshanks watched eagerly with hungry eyes.

"With how your cat's looking at him, it's a good thing he's locked up," Ron muttered, "I bet he thinks Scabbers is lunch!"

"Oh, Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, pushing Crookshanks against her chest, "he wouldn't! He's too smart to eat Scabbers-he knows that Scabbers is your pet!"

"Besides," Harry teased, "I'm sure Crookshanks would want a fatter rat with more hair to eat."

Hermione glared at him, and Harry snickered, while Ron stared at Scabbers in complete concern. Wolfsbane sneezed and shook his head.

Once on the train, it became obvious how difficult it would be to find an empty compartment, the three of them wandered up and down the train, looking like a portable zoo from all the animals.

Wolfsbane was holding Hedwig's cage gently in his mouth, head high to keep it from knocking into something. Harry carried his trunk with both hands. Crookshanks had draped himself across Hermione's shoulders and was purring loudly…this made the task of carrying her trunk nearly impossible as she didn't want to knock her cat from her shoulders. Ron was struggling with Scabbers' cage and his trunk, so when they finally found a compartment that only had a sleeping man in it they took their chances.

The man had light brown hair and was beginning to go grey, in spite of how young he otherwise looked. He also looked extremely tired, which explained why he hadn't woken up when the loud group had stumbled into the compartment. He also didn't have very nice clothes on.

Ron leaned over and whispered to Harry that his clothes never looked that bad, no matter how old they were.

Once they'd all gotten settled in, Harry noticed someone was missing and he looked around anxiously for Wolfsbane. Then he spotted Bane's nose peeking into the compartment, and Harry went out into the hallway to investigate.

Wolfsbane sat, sulking and whining as quietly as possible out in the hallway, hidden from the view of the man. Bane wasn't the only animal that didn't seem to like the seating arrangements, Scabbers was furiously gnawing at the metal of the cage in a mad attempt to escape.

Harry did his best to coax Bane inside the compartment so they could close the door, but he dug his paws in and was as impossible to move as a tired mule.

Finally, Harry just took Hedwig from him and allowed her out of her cage in their compartment. They talked quietly, to keep the man from waking up, while Hermione tried to figure out why a grown man would be on the train.

"Probably because of Sirius Black," Ron declared, "he may even be an auror!"

The three of them studied the man trying to figure out if that was indeed possible, before Hermione decided he must be the new defense teacher.

"Why didn't he just apparate?" Hermione demanded.

"Maybe he can't," Ron suggested, "it's not the easiest thing to do, you know."

The man stirred a bit, and the three of them froze and Wolfsbane shuffled even further from sight. They didn't start talking until they were sure the man was still asleep. Then Bane shuffled in, on his belly, and gently grabbed the hem of Harry's robe with his teeth and began trying to tug him out into the hallway.

Harry decided that maybe Wolfsbane needed to walk around some and he went in search of the snack cart. Bane happily trotted alongside of Harry, and looked overjoyed whenever one of Harry's friends stopped to ask him about the dog.

"I found him over the summer," Harry was telling Dean and Seamus, "I decided to keep him _and_ Dumbledore said I could bring him to school!"

Dean and Seamus looked terribly impressed and asked what tricks the dog knew. Harry told them about the dog's ability to use the toilet, like a human!

"That's nothing," Seamus bragged, "My uncle has a crup that can do laundry and the dishes. He doesn't even need a house-elf, not with Dolly around. Once, my uncle dropped his cloak on the floor, and Dolly wouldn't let him have dinner till he picked it up."

Harry and Dean were visibly impressed and Seamus grinned proudly. After finding the snack trolley and buying as many sweets as he could stuff in his pockets, Harry and Wolfsbane returned to the compartment with the sleeping man…Bane still remained out in the hall, sadly looking in at Harry.

Harry turned his pockets out to empty out all the sweets, but to his surprise nothing came out except for a sheet of paper with a funny drawing on it. Harry, confused, returned his pockets back to their usual place and could instantly feel the huge amount of sweets he'd bought.

So Harry was forced to empty each pocket by hand…when the pile of candy reached a respectable size Hermione asked, "How much candy did you buy, Harry?"

"And how big are those pockets?" Ron demanded.

Hermione suddenly jumped up and began examining Harry's robes, within moments she had located several hidden pockets and declared that the two pockets Harry had stuffed with candy were trick pockets, which had spells on them so they'd be bigger on the inside than on the outside. That's why there was nothing in them when he'd turned the pockets out, more spells.

"That's why it took Madam Malkin so long to tailor them!" Harry exclaimed, "And why she left all the extra fabric in!"

Harry revealed the areas where she'd deftly layered inches of fabric.

"So she could let it out as you grew," Hermione agreed, "and Dumbledore found this for you in a secondhand store?"

Ron looked very jealous and muttered, "Mum needs to take him shopping with us."

Then they'd all settled down to eat sweets when suddenly the train creaked to a halt. Harry, Ron and Hermione all shared looks of surprise and anxiety as the train slowly began to get colder and Hermione shivered and drew her robes tighter around her. Then Wolfsbane burst into the compartment, barking, and grabbed Harry's arm, tight and began to pull him. Harry didn't have a choice but to follow or get hurt and Bane pulled him further and further down the train as fast as Harry's legs could carry him. Harry heard Ron and Hermione following in apparent concern for what was going on.

The further they went, the colder and darker everything seemed to become and once they'd reached the end of the train, Bane released Harry and stood in front of him, shuddering and barking.

Then a mysterious feeling of dread fell upon the Ron, Hermione, and Harry and a cloaked figure drifted slowly towards them. Harry began feeling more and more lightheaded and miserable.

He heard terrified screams and frenzied yells, and when he woke up Ron and Hermione were eating chocolate and staring at him in concern. There was also something very heavy on his chest and the sleeping man had awoken and was also staring down at him with an odd look of both rage and concern. As if his face couldn't figure out which was the correct expression to use in this situation.

"I see you're awake," the man said with a slight smile that turned out to be more of grimace considering how his face was twisted.

"What happened?" Harry asked, shoving at the heavy weight on his chest, which immediately lifted. Then Wolfsbane appeared and began licking his face, whining in concern.

"Why don't you leave him alone," the man said darkly, "let him breathe, or do you _want _to suffocate him."

Wolfsbane whimpered and collapsed heavily down next to Harry's body.

"What happened?" Harry asked, again, trying to sit up. Hermione dug into his pocket and pulled out a piece of chocolate and held it out to him. Harry began nibbling on it and to his surprise warmth began spreading through him, budging out the huge amount of cold which had filled him.

"Those were dementors," the man told Harry, "they guard the prison of Azkaban. They were looking for Sirius Black," the man quickly sent a glare to Wolfsbane, which deeply confused Harry. "I don't know why they thought they could come on this train with a bunch of children!"

"Who are you?" Harry demanded, as he sat up and wrapped his arms around Wolfsbane for comfort, which made the man grimace and jerk in obvious discomfort.

"I'm your new professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, Remus Lupin," the man introduced himself, and he shook Harry's hand, gaining an actual smile this time. It transformed his face entirely and made the circles under his eyes appear smaller. It also made Harry smile too.

"You should eat the rest of your chocolate," the man informed him, "it seems to be the only thing that can rid a person of the after effects."

Harry dutifully took another large bite.

"I'm just curious as to how you three knew they were coming," the man told them, "I saw you running out just as they began to wake me."

"It was Wolfsbane," Hermione replied.

"Excuse me?" the professor asked in clear amusement.

"My dog," Harry explained, "that's his name, Wolfsbane. He got really anxious and pulled me out of the compartment."

"We had no idea what was going on," Hermione added, "and Ron and I followed them. Wolfsbane also tried to defend us, but it wasn't very effective…"

"No," the professor agreed pensively, "I don't imagine he would have been able to do much against them."

"But you did!" Ron exclaimed, "What was that silvery thing?"

"A patronus," Professor Lupin replied with amusement, "it's used to defend oneself against a dementor-but look at me, school hasn't started and I'm already lecturing! Come now, let's get all of you back to the compartment and you can help yourselves to all the chocolate you want!"

That made the three teens instantly perk up and they all quickly made their way back to the compartment they'd settled in before, but Professor Lupin didn't join them saying he wanted to check on the other students and do some other things.

"He really doesn't like dogs," Hermione commented, once Lupin was out of earshot. "Did you see how he was acting?"

Ron snorted, "When Wolfsbane was on your chest, I thought Lupin was going to hex him."

"Is that why he was acting so weird?" Harry asked.

"He also was trying to say that it was against the rules, but we said Dumbledore gave you permission to have him," Hermione told him, "he was really angry then."

"But he seems nice enough besides all that," Ron said in the man's defense.

"And he seems to know what he's talking about," Hermione agreed, "maybe we'll actually learn something this year."

Both boys groaned at the thought of actually learning something and Hermione rolled her eyes.

They spent the rest of the train ride eating candy and talking, Wolfsbane curled up on the floor protectively in front of Harry and Crookshanks later wandered over and began napping next to the large dog.

When the train arrived at Hogwarts, Harry told Wolfsbane that he had to stay on the train and that he'd see him later in the evening.

"I wonder how everything always ends up in the right place," Hermione asked curiously.

"Magic?" Harry suggested jokingly.

"Oh, you!" Hermione said and then shoved him playfully and then they all scrambled to get a carriage together. Once again, at the last second, Ginny joined them with a shy smile and Ron rolled his eyes and leaned over to Harry saying, "She'd better not sit with us at the feast too."

Harry elbowed Ron playfully and they both grinned.

Once at the Gryffindor table everyone was asking about Harry's new dog, and he happily told everyone everything they wanted to know, for once enjoying the attention that he got anyways.

"You should teach him to pick up after us in the dorm," Dean told Harry.

"Yeah!" Ron agreed, "That would be great, and maybe teach him to do our homework for us?"

"Dolly can hold a quill in her mouth," Seamus informed them, "she can mark what they need on grocery order forms and sign my uncle's signature."

Everyone was terribly impressed and was discussing whether or not Wolfsbane could be taught to read or write.

"Well, he's obviously a bit magical," Seamus declared, "it's just all a matter of how much magic he's got as to what he can do."

Then they were forced to quiet down once the sorting began, and Neville loudly whispered, "Is it true he can use the toilet?"

Harry grinned widely and nodded.

Neville then turned to report his findings to the person next to him.

"Who would've thought a dog would be so exciting," Hermione whispered to Harry.

"Well, I don't guess people normally bring dogs," Harry replied, "it's not like they're on the approved list."

"Especially not when they're Wolfsbane's size," Ron agreed.

After a moment of watching the sorting, Hermione nudged Harry and whispered, "Look at Professor Snape."

Harry glanced up at the head table and immediately saw what she meant; Snape was glaring at Professor Lupin even more furiously than he ever had at Harry.

"What's with them?" Harry asked, shocked.

"I don't know," Hermione replied.

"What?" Ron asked. "What's happening?"

"Look at Snape," Harry told him.

"Whoa," Ron breathed, "wonder what's up his bum?"

"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, scandalized.

Harry and Ron snickered together.

* * *

Later that night, all the boys were in the dorm, eating the candy Harry had purchased on the train, there seemed to be a never-ending supply of it and Harry wondered how he hadn't noticed before just how much candy he'd been shoving into his pockets. Wolfsbane was wandering around the dorm, sniffing everything and everyone.

Then Fred and George burst into the room, holding a worn piece of parchment and looking around the room with alarm.

"What's your deal?" Ron demanded as they began throwing open wardrobes and trunks.

"Um," They said looking at each other and the parchment in confusion. "Nothing."

"Yeah, nothing!"

"We were just looking for something."

"But it was obviously somewhere else."

Then they disappeared as quickly as they came.

"Completely bonkers," Ron muttered darkly and Wolfsbane had gone over to the door was looking out into the stairwell.

"Hey, boy, what's wrong?" Harry asked.

Wolfsbane immediately trotted back over to Harry and jumped up to sit on his bed with him.

* * *

That's it for now, hope you enjoyed!


	5. Doggy Discourse

_**Thanks for all the reviews, everyone! A special shout-out to timydamonkey on this, the belated day of our five year friendship anniversary!**_

This is a pretty short chapter...but worry not there's loads more where this came from!

_**Chapter Five**_

A schedule was quickly set up, when the boys all got up for classes, Bane would remain fast asleep behind the closed curtains of Harry's bed-otherwise he'd whine about the sunlight being in his face when he wanted to sleep. Then Wolfsbane would remain in the dormitory the entire time Harry was in classes, and then Wolfsbane would be with Harry in the common room, except during dinner when he would go back up to the dorm and wait for Harry to return again. Harry would also take the dog for walks in the afternoons or evening to get some of his energy out.

To Ron's displeasure, Scabbers seemed to be getting worse…probably from stress. Crookshanks was often found batting at the bars of the cage, terrorizing the poor thing into an alarming frenzy. Wolfsbane would often stare at Scabbers for long periods of time, until the rat stopped trying to escape and simply lay on the bottom of the cage, chest rapidly rising and falling in panic.

Ron now thought the cage was an excellent idea if it kept the two "evil" beasts from getting to Scabbers.

The classes this year seemed to be progressing rather well, and Harry had been hearing great things about Professor Lupin's teaching abilities. When the time for their first defense class came all the third years were very excited, and their excitement only increased when they discovered they'd be having a practical lesson.

Harry stood with Ron and Hermione and watched with rapt attention as all his classmates fought the boggart and Harry felt his excitement level rising as it became closer and closer to his turn.

Then Professor Lupin jumped in front of him and ended the class, and _then_ he asked Harry to stay behind. How could a lesson go so well and end so badly?

Harry sulked while all of his classmates filed out of the classroom acting like it was the best lesson they'd ever had…Harry just wished he could've taken part.

"Harry," Professor Lupin said once everyone was gone.

"Why didn't you let me have a go?" Harry demanded, angrily.

Professor Lupin looked startled for a moment before sheepishly replying, "Well, you've seen a lot of bad things in your life, Harry. You seem to be a really tough kid as well. I can't imagine what your worst fear would be, and if it's enough to scare you then it will certainly terrify your classmates."

Harry solemnly thought this over and then confided with a shudder, "I think I'd be most scared of Dementors…"

Professor Lupin looked shocked at the admission and then said thoughtfully, "I can see how they would be so frightening to you, and whatever it was they made you see was clearly terrible enough to make you pass out."

Harry crossed his arms and shivered, feeling cold and desolate just from talking about them.

Professor Lupin studied him for a moment and then asked, "Would you like for me to teach you how to defend yourself from them?"

Harry started and looked up at the professor in shock, "You would do that?"

"Certainly," Professor Lupin replied cheerfully. "It's my job to teach students how to defend themselves from dangerous creatures."

Harry beamed.

Then a frown crossed Professor Lupin's face and he said, "Now, about why I held you after class…"

Harry blinked and shrunk away from him, sensing he wouldn't like the topic.

"I'm worried about you," the man explained, "I'm not so sure that it's a good idea for you to have your dog, Wolfsbane, I think that you should maybe have some of the professors check and make sure that he's safe."

Harry was completely shocked and replied, "He's completely safe! He's never hurt anyone!"

Professor Lupin frowned a little at that and then tried again, "Some dogs, like some people aren't all that they seem, sometimes…"

Harry was frowning deeply and he said, "Well, if Wolfsbane ever tries to hurt anyone, you'll be the first person I tell, okay."

Harry then slung his bag over his shoulder and hurried out of the room.

* * *

"He held me after class to tell me that Bane was dangerous!" Harry told Ron and Hermione indignantly. "It's completely ridiculous!"

They were walking around the lake for Wolfsbane's afternoon constitutional. Harry was very frustrated over not being allowed to participate in defense class and then having Professor Lupin talk bad about his dog.

"I mean, yeah, most other dogs are horrible," Harry admitted, "but Wolfsbane isn't. He's never tried to attack me or anyone else."

Hermione looked really surprised, "You don't like dogs?"

Harry shook his head firmly, "They're dangerous, they can take whole chunks out of a person! My Aunt Marge has dogs that chase me around and bite me and won't let go! And remember what that three-headed dog did to Snape first year!"

"What about Fang?" Hermione demanded.

"Fang's a good dog," Harry admitted, "he's kind of scary because of his size, but he's really good-natured."

"Wolfsbane's a big dog too," Ron pointed out, his tone teasing.

"And he scared me to death when I first saw him," Harry told them, sheepishly, "I thought he was going to attack me!"

"And now he's sleeping in your bed," Hermione laughed.

Harry grinned when he realized how funny all of this sounded.

"Well, maybe I just don't like certain dogs," Harry decided.

"I think Professor Lupin just isn't a dog person," Hermione told Harry, "so take everything he says with a grain of salt. Don't let him get you in a bad mood…and he was probably right to keep you from going at the boggart, I know I certainly never want to see a dementor again!"

The three of them shuddered.

After their walk, they returned to Gryffindor tower and were faced with Fred and George who looked frantic.

"Remember the first night back when we came into your room with that sheet of parchment?"

"Yeah," Ron replied slowly looking incredibly confused.

"Have you seen that piece of parchment?"

"How am I supposed to tell it from any other parchment in the whole tower?" Ron demanded in frustration.

Fred and George shared twin looks of apprehension.

"What about you, Harry?"

Harry shook his head.

Dejected Fred and George headed upstairs, presumably to their dorm to look for the parchment once more.

"Bonkers," Ron declared. "Totally off their rockers."


	6. Serious Talks

**_Many thanks to everyone who's reviewed!_**

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

_**Chapter Six**_

When the first Hogsmeade weekend arrived, Harry sulked upset that he hadn't been able to convince the Dursleys to sign his permission slip and upset that Ron and Hermione had gone without him.

Harry had taken Bane with him down to the shores of the lake, where Harry kicked stones fiercely around.

"It's all the Dursleys' fault," Harry growled to Wolfsbane. "They never let me do anything fun, and they do anything possible to ruin my life. They said they'd sign the permission slip if I'd behaved when Aunt Marge visited…but she's such a dreadful woman! She kept insulting mum and dad, and she's not worth half as much as one of their fingernails!"

Harry sighed and sat down on the grass and Wolfsbane walked over and sat down next to him.

"I wish I never had to go back to them," Harry confided, "I wish I'd never had to even meet them. They're the worst kind of people."

Wolfsbane licked his cheek to console him and Harry buried his face in the dog's fur.

"Why would Dumbledore send me to live with them," Harry asked, "surely there was someone-_anyone _else that could've taken me in."

Wolfsbane snuffed and poked his nose into Harry's hair, whining softly.

"Harry!"

Harry immediately looked up and saw Professor Lupin hurrying towards him. He stood up and waited for the professor to come closer.

"Oh no," Harry sighed down to Wolfsbane, "he's going to lecture me about you again."

"I'm surprised to see you aren't in Hogsmeade," Professor Lupin said, appearing winded.

"No one would sign my permission slip," Harry sighed.

Professor Lupin appeared surprised and then said, "Well, would you like to come to my office for tea? Perhaps we could work out the details of your extra lessons?"

"Yeah, sure," Harry said brightly, and then he remembered and hesitantly asked, "shall I take Wolfsbane up to my dorm first?"

Professor Lupin seemed a bit taken aback by the question and thought about it for a moment, "It would be all right if he came along."

Harry beamed in complete happiness and said, "Well, come on, boy!"

Wolfsbane slowly slunk up behind Harry, hiding from view and Professor Lupin glared down at him.

"Have Ron and Hermione gone ahead without you?" Professor Lupin asked as they began walking back to the castle.

"Yes," Harry replied sullenly, "I wish they had stayed, but I wouldn't ask them to do something like that for me, it would be mean."

Professor Lupin smiled at him and told him, "Your friends do care about you; it's just the novelty of being able to do something they couldn't before. I'm sure that you'll be able to get someone to sign your permission slip and then you'll be able to join them soon enough."

Harry huffed, not really wanting to hear that sort of adult nonsense right now.

"You know, your father didn't go on a Hogsmeade trip until his fifth year," Professor Lupin informed him, "he always had something to do here at school on the weekends, he was constantly occupied."

"You knew my father?" Harry exclaimed in wonder.

"I was one of your father's friends," Professor Lupin replied with a wide grin. "Our times at school together were some of the happiest years of my life."

Harry was positively radiant with his happiness, and Professor Lupin told him, "You favor your father very much, but you have your mother's eyes."

Harry looked impossibly happy upon hearing this, though he'd surely heard it hundreds of times before. Professor Lupin continued telling him more about his father until they reached his office and then Lupin, opened his office door and held it open for Harry, Wolfsbane scurried in quickly between Harry's legs and hid underneath the chair that Harry would be sitting in. Well, tried to hide underneath the chair, the large dog was able to fit about half his body underneath and so his backside and limp tail were left exposed.

Harry frowned at Bane's behavior and knelt down by the dog's head and tried to coax him out from his hiding place.

"So about your problem with dementors," Professor Lupin murmured thoughtfully as he began easily preparing tea. "I've been thinking that I could teach you the patronus spell as well."

"Really?" Harry asked eagerly, looking away from Wolfsbane for a moment.

"Certainly, it will be a very challenging spell," Professor Lupin informed him, "but I think you'll be able to master it well enough to defend yourself."

"Do you think…that I'll see more of them…the dementors?"

Professor Lupin sighed thoughtfully and replied, "There are some on the outskirts of campus, on guard for Sirius Black, but they aren't supposed to come onto school grounds or into the school."

Harry pursed his lips, thoughtfully.

"Why don't you sit down, Harry, the tea will be ready soon."

Harry patted Wolfsbane on the head and then sat down on the chair, leaning forward to examine his dog's condition.

"What do you know about Sirius Black?" Harry asked curiously.

Professor Lupin paused in his tea-making and replied, "Enough."

"I've heard," Harry said haltingly, "that he wants to kill me."

Wolfsbane sneezed and nearly startled Harry out of his seat. Professor Lupin smiled in amusement before he could help himself and then placed a tray down on his desk. It held two cups and a teapot.

"I have heard that too, Harry," Professor Lupin replied.

"Is it true?"

Professor Lupin closed his eyes and then said, "It is difficult to understand the motivation behind what killers do. Indeed, it would be much simpler if they were _here _to _explain _why they _escaped _from _prison _after muttering _threats _in their sleep, and then _hunted down schoolchildren_," Professor Lupin then cut himself off and cleared his throat. "Just know that Sirius Black is a _very bad _man and should not be trusted."

Harry swallowed and looked away from the professor.

"I'm sorry if I've frightened you, Harry, that wasn't my intention," Professor Lupin said softly, "Here, have a glass of tea and I'll see if I can't find an old photo album of my school days."

Harry immediately perked up and was smiling happily while Professor Lupin quickly poured him a cup of tea, before heading back into his private rooms.

Harry then immediately turned all of his attention to Wolfsbane and jumped down from his chair, sitting on the ground in front of his dog's face.

"What is wrong with you?" Harry asked him softly, and he gently rubbed the fur between his eyes. Wolfsbane closed his eyes and then produced a high pitched whine that slowly increased in volume.

Then Professor Lupin appeared from behind the door and stared between Harry and Wolfsbane who immediately ceased his whining upon being caught.

"What happened?" Professor Lupin demanded.

"Nothing," Harry replied, "he's just really upset for some reason."

"For _some_ reason," Professor Lupin echoed dully, and then he sighed, "well, I'll go finish trying to find that album, then."

As soon as Professor Lupin disappeared, Harry asked, "Can you tell that he doesn't like you?"

Wolfsbane didn't react and simply stared at Harry. Harry sighed and ran his hand through his hair in frustration and pleaded, "Please stop hiding, Wolfsbane."

Bane snuffed and then slowly wiggled out from under the chair before collapsing onto the floor in front of it, looking like he'd been petrified. Professor Lupin returned, holding a thin book, and blinked when he saw Wolfsbane had moved, and then his eyes narrowed as he studied the dog.

Professor Lupin settled behind his desk, placing the book onto his desk. His brows were furrowed, and his expression dark. He poured himself a glass of tea, and Harry quickly returned to his seat and reached for his own cup.

Then Professor Lupin opened the album he'd located and began pointing out which were his parents and how old they were when the picture was taken and where the picture was taken.

Harry was completely enraptured by the pictures, until they got to the last one and Professor Lupin said, "This was taken right before your parents went into hiding with you."

Then Wolfsbane began whining piteously and ran over to the door and began scratching at it.

"What's wrong?" Harry demanded in alarm. "Are you okay?"

Harry set his cup of tea down and ran over to his dog trying to get him to calm down and Professor Lupin watched with that same odd expression on his face that he'd had on the train when Harry's woken up after the dementors. After a moment, Wolfsbane curled up as small as possible in front of Harry, whining softly.

"I don't know what's wrong with him," Harry said softly, looking lost.

"It's like I was saying earlier about killers, Harry," Professor Lupin said, glaring or possibly frowning at Wolfsbane, "sometimes it's hard to know the motivations behind why people do what they do, unless they're there to explain it to you themselves. _Dogs_, in the same way, are similarly unable to speak and so they can't explain themselves."

* * *

"It sounds like he was calling Bane a killer, doesn't it?" Harry asked Ron and Hermione when they came back that evening.

Hermione looked shocked and said, "That sounds like a really bizarre conversation!"

"And you say he knew your parents?" Ron asked, "Well, that certainly explains why he's so upset about Sirius Black. He was probably still upset from when you asked about it earlier."

Fred and George suddenly appeared from no where.

"Did you say-"

"-Sirius Black?"

"Um, yeah," Ron replied, looking to Harry and Hermione to save him. They both shrugged.

"What about him?"

"Have you heard anything about him?"

"Like about him being here?"

"What are you two even talking about?" Ron demanded, "You've been acting even weirder than normal!"

"So…"

"You haven't heard anything like that?"

"Of course not!" Ron said, clearly flustered, "Don't you think if there was a cold blooded killer running about school, they'd be doing something about it?"

"Why are you asking?" Hermione asked curiously, studying the twins.

The turned to look at each other and then one replied, "Oh, what do you know, there's Katie and Angelina!"

"Perhaps they've heard something!"

Then they nearly fell over each other in their hurry to leave.

"I should write mum," Ron muttered darkly. "They need professional help."

"They have been acting really unusual," Hermione murmured thoughtfully, "I'm going to try to talk to them."

She got up and walked over to them, but as soon as they saw her they fled up to their dorm, and she came back over to Ron and Harry looked really unhappy.

"They're hiding something," She huffed as she plopped back down into her chair. "Something serious!"

"Knowing them," Harry said," it's probably just some big elaborate joke."

Hermione looked like she would lose her temper and hex them if that were the case.


	7. Lessons

We have reached the halfway point in the story :O Congrats for putting up with me this long, lol, and **_thanks to everyone who has been reviewing! I always enjoy reading your feedback!_**

I hope you enjoy this chapter, even though not very much happens in it and it's a little short...

_**Chapter Seven**_

Professor Lupin held Harry after his next class and Harry shuffled around nervously, not sure why he kept singling Harry out.

"I'm sorry about our conversation on Saturday," Professor Lupin said softly, gently, "I got very off-topic and we never addressed the real reason I invited you."

Harry blinked and waited for further explanation.

"Tuesday evenings would be the time for me to teach you the patronus charm," Professor Lupin continued, "if you're still interested."

"I am," Harry said happily, "I can definitely come by on Tuesday evenings, what time?"

"How about 7pm?" Professor Lupin suggested.

Harry smiled widely and eagerly agreed.

"I apologize again," Professor Lupin added, looking slightly uncomfortable, "you seemed rather frightened when I spoke about Sirius Black and otherwise referred to him. It was not my intention to frighten you…It would just serve you well to be aware of your surroundings."

"Like you said in class," Harry agreed, brightly.

Professor Lupin smiled and inclined his head at the reference, "Yes, precisely."

"Can I go now then?" Harry asked.

"Yes, that was all I wanted to speak to you about."

Harry quickly grabbed his bag and trotted out of the room, trying to catch up with his classmates.

* * *

"He's really going to teach me how to make that silver thing he used to get rid of the dementors," Harry told Wolfsbane as they walked around the grounds. "I can't believe he's going to help me out like that, _and_ he knew mum and dad!"

Harry sighed and beamed down at Wolfsbane whose tail wagged faster when he did. "He's probably the best teacher we've ever had! Now, if he could just stop complaining about you, everything would be great!"

Harry stopped and knelt down to pet Wolfsbane who sat down, tail wagging quickly and stared open-mouthed and adoring at Harry's face. After a moment of petting, Wolfsbane eagerly sidled forward little by little until he could lick Harry's face.

Harry laughed and shoved the dog away, but lost his balance and fell down. Bane began bounding around him, jumping forward to lick Harry's hands and face whenever he could. Harry lay on the ground trying to avoid any dog slobber, squealing and laughing.

Then suddenly Bane stood still, his whole body seemingly leaned in one direction. He reminded Harry of a picture Aunt Petunia had hanging in the hallway of a pointer dog. After a moment he took off running and barking toward the quidditch field, Harry quickly rolled off the ground and chased after him.

Wolfsbane had stopped once he reached the pitch and was jumping and barking eagerly at Harry as he caught up. Harry stopped panting and Bane wandered around him, sniffing here and there, tail wagging wildly.

Harry felt the same sort of content feeling he always got whenever he walked onto the pitch. It was a bit odd to be here without other people.

"I can't wait for quidditch to start," Harry confided with a happy sigh.

Wolfsbane barked several times.

Wolfsbane walked up and leaned against Harry's legs and Harry patted him on the head.

"I love playing quidditch and I love flying," Harry told Bane. "It's the best feeling in the world."

Wolfsbane barked in agreement. The two of them stayed out till dinner and then Harry had to ask Ron and Hermione to sneak him food because Wolfsbane wouldn't be allowed in the great hall. The two of them decided to simply grab enough food for all three of them to eat and they all headed up to the empty common room to talk and eat together.

Crookshanks appeared at some point during the meal and delicately sniffed at the food until they shooed him away. He then went to sniff and paw playfully at Wolfsbane who acted like there was nothing going on at all.

* * *

Harry's first private lesson with Professor Lupin completely robbed him of what felt like all his energy and after he'd left Lupin's office, he'd slowly made his way back to his empty dorm and collapsed onto his bed. Wolfsbane appeared from wherever he'd been when Harry arrived and laid down next to him on his bed.

"That was really difficult," Harry sighed, "I couldn't do it right. I'm so tired…and frustrated."

Wolfsbane's wet nose touched his cheek and Harry couldn't help but smile.

"Professor Lupin says mum was good at charms, so it shouldn't take me long to figure it out," Harry sighed, and then Harry sniffed and buried his face in his pillow and sniffed again. Bane's nose touched Harry's ear and he whined softly, but he couldn't stop Harry from crying.

Wolfsbane instead pulled the curtains around Harry's bed and cuddled next to Harry to comfort him.

"I know it's stupid," Harry sniffled, "because I never knew them, but I miss them."

Wolfsbane whined and whimpered along with Harry.

Sometime later, Harry woke up and saw Wolfsbane sitting above him. Harry tried to sit up to see what was going on, but Bane's firmly placed his paw on his chest and it kept him from moving.

"Now, it'll be in here somewhere," either Fred or George whispered.

"He _has_ to have it."

There was a thud followed by a soft curse.

"_Shh_, Harry's sleeping; he'll tell Ron if he wakes up."

"Fred, I don't know why he'd take it, honestly. He wouldn't know what it was."

"Who else could've taken it?"

"Flitch?" George suggested. "Or…maybe…"

"Don't even joke about that," Fred hissed, "we should've told that night."

"Then nothing would be different, we'd just know who'd taken it," George whispered with a sigh.

"You're probably right, let's just get out of here."

There was a bit of shuffling and then the door to the dorm closed. Wolfsbane removed his paw from Harry's chest and jumped down from the bed to sniff around the room. Harry pulled the curtains open and looked over to Ron's bed, nothing looked any different, but if the twins were trying to find something they would be sneaky about it.

"What do you think they were looking for?" Harry asked as Wolfsbane went over to sniff at Scabbers, who was beginning to look even worse. He also didn't move or try to escape when Wolfsbane came close to him…the rat must be losing the will to fight.

"Can't you leave Scabbers alone," Harry asked Bane, shooing him from the cage, "let him die in peace, huh? …Don't tell Ron I said he's dying!"

Wolfsbane sneezed and then jumped back up onto Harry's bed and then looked at Harry as if asking if they were going to go back to sleep.

Harry grabbed his wand and said, "I'm going to go see if Ron and Hermione are in the common room."

Wolfsbane jumped down and followed him.


	8. Splish Splash

**_Much love to everyone who took the time to review!_**

Another really short chapter...I apparently didn't do that good a job when I mapped them all out XD but hopefully the epic cuteness of this chapter will make up for the epic shortness :D

_**A short little note:**_ This fic, once they're at school, actually spans about two weeks, possibly three...despite how long this fic is.

_**Chapter Eight**_

"Harry, could you please stay after class," Professor Lupin asked all business. Harry sighed and did as he was told. He gathered his things and slowly approached the professor's desk.

"I spoke to the headmaster about your dog," Professor Lupin told Harry, and held up a hand to stop Harry from commenting. "He said that he'd spent several hours with you in Diagon Alley over the summer?"

Harry nodded.

Professor Lupin rubbed his eyes, "The headmaster seemed to find Wolfsbane to be a delightful dog, and I often find it easy to put faith in whatever Headmaster Dumbledore believes…but I really do believe that you should perhaps allow your dog to be examined by another professor, perhaps Hagrid or your head of house. I can't help but feel that there's _more_ to Wolfsbane that meets the eye."

Harry was simply gobsmacked; he couldn't believe that the man's hatred of dogs ran so deep. Not only that but wouldn't a vet or something has to check out a _dog_? Well…Hagrid was close enough to a vet, Harry supposed, and he too had a large black dog…

But _McGonagall_? What could she possibly know about real animals besides how to turn them into a prune? Though surely, McGonagall had other magical talents besides transfigurations…

Harry still didn't think this request made much sense, nor was it very fair. What other students had to get their pets examined to make sure they were safe?

Hermione had just up and bought Crookshanks without even asking what type of cat it was or why it was so big and ugly! Why wasn't Professor Lupin getting onto her too?

Harry tried to figure out what to say and tried not to let his anger get the better of him. He did like Professor Lupin, and Harry didn't want to get on his bad side.

"I'll keep that in mind, sir," Harry finally said and Professor Lupin didn't look like that was the response he'd wanted to hear, in fact, his shoulders slumped down-almost as if he'd been tense or nervous. He also suddenly looked almost as tired as he had on the train.

Wolfsbane clearly made the man uncomfortable and Harry couldn't even begin to figure out why.

"I hope you will," the man sighed finally-probably taking as long to answer as Harry had, then he checked his wristwatch and asked, "Are you going to need an excuse for your next class?"

* * *

"Boy, does he have it out for you," Ron said, eyes wide in shock, "what does he think? That it's You-Know-Who pretending to be a dog, or what?"

Wolfsbane sneezed, and caused a few of Harry's cards to explode in his hand and Wolfsbane licked at his slightly burnt nose several times and Harry and Ron laughed at him.

"That's what you get for cheating, Bane," Ron chided the dog as he ruffled his head, turning one of the dog's floppy ears inside out. Ron then frowned at his hand and rubbed it on his robe, and said to Harry, "Needs a bath, mate."

Wolfsbane whined, not seeming too keen on the idea.

"You're going to have to get over it," Harry told him. "It's going to happen."

Ron and Harry started a new game of exploding snap and despite Wolfsbane's slightly burnt nose he still helped Harry play his cards.

"Wonder if he's good at chess too," Ron asked Harry with a wide grin.

Bane wagged his tail and doggy-smiled at both of them.

"Can't be worse than me," Harry replied and Wolfsbane sneezed several times.

"Either that's the dog version of laughing or he's coming down with a cold," Hermione said from behind a pile of books as she approached them.

"What's all that for?"

"She's taking every elective, remember," Harry told Ron, with a roll his eyes, and Hermione wouldn't even glare at him for it because she couldn't even see them.

Hermione dropped the books and said, "Not _every_ elective."

"Right," Harry agreed, "she dropped divination, you remember."

Ron snickered and asked, "How could I forget!"

"Hermione's first time acting out in class," Harry explained to Wolfsbane, "she told off Trelawney and stormed out. It was brill!"

Wolfsbane, as always, looked like it was the best story he'd ever heard, and Harry hugged the dog and patted his side. Bane, in turn, tried his best to lick Harry's nose and glasses.

"I swear, you're going to catch some sort of odd disease from that dog if you keep letting him lick your face!" Hermione admonished, but her heart really wasn't in it and she was smiling.

Wolfsbane left Harry to go over to Hermione and he jumped up onto the couch next to her and gave her his best pitiful-looking stare, if she didn't give in soon Bane would probably start whining. Hermione tried to hide her grin, but gave in and began ruffling the fur around his head and neck.

"Why did Professor Lupin hold you after class this time?" Hermione asked, suddenly remembering what had happened earlier in the day.

"Wolfsbane, again," Ron sighed before Harry could.

Hermione shook her head and rolled her eyes, "Honestly, I'm sure he could find a more questionable pet if he wanted to."

"Now here's a pet I have questions about," Ron said, announcing Crookshanks arrival. "Why is he so big?"

Hermione quickly fished out one of her many books and flipped it open to a page she'd bookmarked and held it out to Ron.

"How to care for your half-kneazle?" Ron read dubiously. Then he turned to squint at Crookshanks, "You think?"

"That's the only explanation I can think of," Hermione replied with a smile, as Crookshanks jumped into her lap and then stood, bracing himself on Hermione's shoulder, to rub his face against hers.

"Honestly, Hermione," Harry rebuked her, "you're going to catch something if you keep letting that cat nuzzle your face."

"Harry Potter!" She exclaimed, again trying to hide her grin and look fierce, "You stop that right now!"

After another game of exploding snap, Harry decided it was time for him to give Wolfsbane a bath and somehow Hermione, Ron, Seamus, Dean, and Neville had gotten wrangled into helping.

Last time, Wolfsbane had remained still and simply allowed Harry to bathe him, but this time Bane ran around wildly and shook himself every time he even got a little wet. Hermione, after nearly slipping and possibly twisting her ankle, retreated up onto the counter and was providing suggestions whenever she wasn't laughing hysterically.

Harry and Ron had bumped heads while trying to catch Wolfsbane, and so Dean and Seamus had to try and wrestle him into staying still, while Neville did his best to pour water onto only Wolfsbane...and failed thoroughly soaking Dean and Seamus

It took the combined efforts of all the third year boys to shampoo the dog and then they'd all gotten covered with soap as well. Then in a combined effort all the boys dumped water, simultaneously, on top of Wolfsbane and declared him clean.

Then Wolfsbane shook himself and got water all over everyone, including Hermione.

Ron, fortunately, had picked up from years living with his mother how to do a combination cleaning and drying spell and used it on everyone in the room, one by one.

Then the crowd studied their handiwork.

"A huge improvement," Ron declared.

"Outstandings for everyone," Hermione agreed.

Wolfsbane barked twice and wagged his tail energetically.

Ron and Harry then helped Hermione to the hospital wing.


	9. Happy Thoughts?

**_Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! It's always nice to hear from you guys!_**

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

_**Chapter Nine**_

"Well, he sure does look fine terday," Hagrid said, smiling down at Wolfsbane who pranced around with Fang as if the two were old friends. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had decided to visit him on Sunday afternoon. "Yer s'good with animals, yer are, Harry."

Harry smiled at the praise and Hagrid invited them all in for tea.

"How yeh been likin' the lessons?" Hagrid asked them.

"They're quite nice," Hermione told Hagrid with a smile as she sipped her tea and easily evaded Hagrid's attempts to give her scones. Hagrid looked extremely happy at the praise.

"You should Charlie to come and bring some dragons!" Ron eagerly suggested to Hagrid.

"I don't think that's very safe!" Hermione squeaked.

"It'll be safe with Charlie there!" Ron assured her, and the two began arguing back and forth while Hagrid looked very thoughtful.

Wolfsbane had jumped to place his paws on Harry's leg so that he could sniff at the rock-hard scones on the table. Hagrid smiled and gave him one; Wolfsbane dropped down, the scone in his mouth and began gnawing on it like it was a bone.

"I been really wantin' ter get a hippogriff," Hagrid interjected into Ron and Hermione's argument, "them's some graceful beasts. No luck s'far though."

"A hippogriff?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Well, y'see they got the front of a griffin," Hagrid explained to her and Hermione looked rather fascinated by it all while Ron looked bored enough to actually attempt to eat one of the scones. Harry didn't think Madam Pomfrey would be happy to see them all back so soon because Ron chipped a tooth on a scone.

After Hagrid finished his explanation and Hermione looked like she'd found something to research next weekend, Hagrid turned to Harry and asked, "So there a reason yer all came ter see me?"

"Well," Harry said slowly, trying to figure out a good way to say this, "It's Bane…"

"Ah," Hagrid said knowingly, "think he's comin' down with a cold, eh?"

"Yeah," Harry agreed easily, "could you make sure he's okay?"

Hagrid knelt down and looked closely into both of Wolfsbane's eyes and then opened his mouth and looked in there as well. After closely examining, Wolfsbane's whole head for a few moments, he then looked closely at Wolfsbane's coat and said, "Well, I think yeh don't have ter worry, he looks ter be as hearty as a hippogriff."

Harry beamed proudly at Hagrid's reassurances, and when they left an hour or so later Hermione rolled her eyes and said, "Now, I'm all for listening to what teachers have to say, but honestly I don't even know why you took him down to see Hagrid. Professor Lupin obviously takes issue with Wolfsbane because he's a dog."

"Then I won't even bother taking him to Professor McGonagall," Harry told her, shaking his head.

"Does he still need to walk even though we've just been to Hagrid's?" Hermione asked.

"Can't hurt," Harry replied.

"Let's go to the pitch," Ron suggested, "we can get a stick and play fetch with him."

The three of them changed directions to head over to the pitch.

"Did I tell you that when I found him, he knew what a wand was and gave me mine because I'd dropped it without realizing?" Harry asked his friends.

Hermione looked shocked and said, "No! Do tell us what happened!"

"Well, I was so scared after I saw him that I tripped over my trunk and dropped my wand," Harry explained, "and then he came up and was friendly so I forgot about it, but when I said I had to leave, he wouldn't let me till I got my wand."

"He's an awfully smart dog," Ron whistled, further impressed with Wolfsbane's abilities.

"You're very lucky," Hermione agreed, looking at Wolfsbane like he was some new thing to research.

"Probably belonged to a magical person living in your neighborhood," Ron informed him, "and you both just happened to run away at the same time."

Harry grinned and said, "Just so long as they never ask for him back."

_**

* * *

**_

After the next defense class, Harry stayed after of his own volition.

"Can I help you, Harry?" Professor Lupin asked with a gentle smile.

"I took Wolfsbane to Hagrid," Harry declared, "he said he was completely fine."

"Did he?" Professor Lupin asked as though trying to keep his tone light even though it clearly took a bit of effort.

"Yes," Harry replied.

"Well, Hagrid certainly is an authority when it comes to magical creatures," Professor Lupin told Harry in that same tone.

"Yes."

"Are you still going to attend your extracurricular lessons this evening?" Professor Lupin as though he clearly expected Harry to say no.

"Why wouldn't I?" Harry asked in confusion.

Professor Lupin cleared his throat and replied, "Things come up."

"Oh," Harry replied, brow furrowed, "well, I don't think anything will."

"I'm glad to hear that," Professor Lupin said with a relieved smile.

Harry got the feeling he just had two conversations and he only understood one of them.

_**

* * *

**_

Harry once more was completely wiped out after the Patronus charm lessons; he stumbled into his dorm and fell flat onto his bed. Wolfsbane jumped up and began sniffing around his face, poking his nose into his ear which Harry normally hated. Tonight, though, he couldn't bring himself to care.

"It's too hard," Harry told Wolfsbane, though it was muffled by the bedding, "I can't do this, I should tell Lupin I give up."

Wolfsbane gave the same growl he gave whenever someone told him that it was time to stop playing, that they had to go.

"It's too hard," Harry sighed, "Hermione looked it up and said it was NEWTs level, and I'm in third year."

Harry rolled onto his side to stare Wolfsbane in the eye, and repeated, "He thinks I can learn a NEWTs level charm."

Wolfsbane barked firmly and gave that same growl again.

"You're as deluded as he is," Harry replied and rolled back onto his stomach. Wolfsbane growled once more, and when that didn't have any effect he barked. Then barked a few more times.

Then he grabbed the back collar of Harry's robes and pulled him off the bed, Harry fell to the floor in heap and said, "Hey, what did you that for?"

Wolfsbane had Harry's wand in his mouth and dropped it in Harry's lap and then growled and barked again.

Harry's eyes were wide open and he stared in disbelief, "This must be what having a mom is like."

Wolfsbane barked once in confirmation.

_**

* * *

**_

Wolfsbane never helped Harry with homework in front of the other students, but when they were alone up in the dorm, Harry would pull out his books and practice spellwork. Bane would watch him like he would watch rabbits running across the grounds during walks, and then whenever Harry wasn't moving his wand the right way Wolfsbane would touch his wet nose to Harry's arm or wrist and gently nudge it into the correct position and the spell would suddenly make sense and work perfectly every time.

With assignments, it was different; Wolfsbane would nudge some books closer or further away from Harry. The ones that were closest had the best information, and if Harry really couldn't find what he needed then Wolfsbane would turn the pages with his nose whenever Harry groaned and rubbed his eyes or collapsed onto the desk out of sheer frustration. Wolfsbane only did it when he thought Harry wasn't looking, but it didn't take Harry long to figure out what the sneaky beast was doing.

Harry wondered if he would get in trouble for having his dog help him with homework, but there was no safe way Harry could ask. Hermione and Ron would certainly call it cheating, even if it wasn't the obvious sort of cheating like when Wolfsbane would tell him which cards to play in exploding snap.

Of course, Harry would often study with Ron and Hermione, because nothing beat being able to ask someone what book they'd used or which page something was on and having them answer.

_**

* * *

**_

Harry arrived at Professor Lupin's office early for his next lesson. Professor Lupin looked pleasantly surprised to see him and welcomed him.

"I've been practicing," Harry declared proudly.

"Have you?" Professor Lupin asked with an encouraging smile.

"Yes," Harry said, nodding fervently. "Can I show you?"

Professor Lupin looked amused and replied, "Certainly, please go right ahead."

Harry carefully arranged himself in the position he'd found worked best while practicing, having Wolfsbane adjust his stance and movements for other spellwork caused him to experiment with this spell as well. Wolfsbane never helped him with this spell, though, simply watched and barked or growled whenever Harry became impatient or discouraged.

Then he closed his eyes and the memory immediately came to him, "_Expecto_," he concentrated on exactly how it felt to fly through brisk air, twisting and turning, hearing wind and cheers until finally he caught the snitch, "_Patronum_!"

Harry eagerly opened his eyes and once again there was a thick silver cloud hovering in front of him. Harry beamed and looked up at Professor Lupin who had stood up, and apparently knocked his chair over, and was staring at Harry with a mix of fierce pride and shock.

"I did it!" Harry told him, needlessly.

"Yes," Professor Lupin exclaimed, happily, "you certainly did!"

Professor Lupin worked with him on performing the spell, and by the end of the lesson Harry's cloud was thicker and looked like it was beginning to have some sort of form to it.

"Next time," Professor Lupin told him, "we're going to see how well it works when you're faced with a dementor…well, a boggart-dementer, rather."

Harry left to head back to the common room, but when he arrived Ron and Hermione each immediately grabbed one of his arms and pulled him upstairs to his dorm, everyone in the common room was staring at him silently. Once, they'd gotten into the stairwell though, everyone began talking at once, loudly.

"What's happened?" Harry demanded, fearing the worst.

"You're not going to like it," Ron said solemnly.

"Professor McGonagall came up right after you'd left and made us get Wolfsbane," Hermione told him, "she cast a bunch of spells on him and looked him over really well and then said that was all she'd needed and left muttering about Professor Lupin."

Harry felt ice-cold rage fill his chest, Professor Lupin had used his private lessons as a diversion so Professor McGonagall would come up here and look at his dog without him knowing!

"I can't believe this," Harry yelled. Then he heard the talking in the common room get louder when he said that, and knew that they had heard him. Ron and Hermione jerked him into the dorm, and he saw Neville was sitting with Wolfsbane, petting his head.

Wolfsbane jumped up and ran over to Harry who grabbed Bane around the neck and hugged him.

"Where did you go anyway?" Ron demanded, "How could he have known you'd be gone?"

"He's giving me private lessons, every Tuesday," Harry said darkly.

"Oh, Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, "I can't believe he'd do something like that, he seems so nice!"

Harry felt so rotten inside; he'd been so excited to show Professor Lupin how he'd been improving and this is what happened. Harry buried his face into Wolfsbane's fur and began sniffing.

Hermione knelt down beside him and wrapped her arms around him, and for some reason she felt a lot softer than he remembered, "It's okay, though, Professor McGonagall didn't act like there was anything wrong with him."

_**

* * *

**_

Harry didn't wait until his next defense class to confront Professor Lupin about what he'd done. Harry raced to his classroom right before lunch, just as the professor was leaving.

"How could you?" Harry demanded, "Is that why you even offered to teach me?"

Professor Lupin didn't even pretend that he had no idea what Harry was talking about, "I'm sorry, Harry, I-"

"No! You don't understand," Harry yelled, tugging his hand through his hair roughly, "You can't just…I thought…"

Harry couldn't find the right words to describe how much it felt like betrayal because Wolfsbane was his friend and Professor Lupin was his friend, and why didn't it matter that Hagrid said Wolfsbane was fine? …and _what was wrong with Wolfsbane in the first place_?

Harry, to his great embarrassment, felt like he was going to cry over this _again_ and apparently Professor Lupin noticed the same thing and reached out for Harry. Harry couldn't stand to have that happen and he ran away before Professor Lupin could reach him.

_**

* * *

**_

Professor Lupin found Harry while he was walking that afternoon, Wolfsbane saw him before Harry did and the two of them stopped several feet away from the man.

"You trusted me, didn't you?" Professor Lupin asked without greeting Harry, and Harry didn't respond. Professor Lupin sighed and came closer to Harry, so they were standing next to each other. Wolfsbane shied away and waited a few feet away from them for the discussion to finish.

"You probably won't believe me, because you probably don't believe a word I say anymore, but I know what it's like to be betrayed by someone," Professor Lupin told Harry. "It led to three of my closest friends being killed."

Harry froze, but still said nothing.

"You don't know what that's like, but I get the feeling that my betrayal of you is a shadow of that," Professor Lupin continued. "So, I know it still must hurt. You asked if that was the reason I was teaching you the Patronus…I can honestly say, that I was and still am very concerned over the effects that dementors have on you."

Professor Lupin looked over to Harry, and he immediately looked away from his teacher, not wanting any contact with the man.

"And, I will still remain in my office, every Tuesday evening, so that if you should like to continue to study the Patronus Charm with me, you will be able to do so."

Professor Lupin waited for a response and then, with a sigh, he turned to leave.

"Why do you even care about Wolfsbane?" Harry demanded, before Professor Lupin could go.

Harry heard the man make something like a growl and then Wolfsbane quickly came over to Harry to stand as close to him as possible, tail between his legs, head down.

Professor Lupin turned around, and his eyes fixed on Wolfsbane, who whimpered and retreated behind Harry, trying to make himself as small as possible. Professor Lupin looked a bit wild but he closed his eyes and breathed deeply twice, and when he opened his eyes again he appeared to be himself once more.

"I knew a dog like him once," Professor Lupin admitted with a deep frown, and then spat out like an accusation, "his name was _Padfoot_."

The dog whimpered and Harry suddenly got very angry, "You leave him alone! He never did anything to you! If you want to pick on something then pick on something that can fight back!"

"Harry," Professor Lupin said, very softly, and Harry almost wished he was yelling because then he'd know exactly what the man was feeling, "Some dogs just aren't what they seem, they play nice, but deep down they're very _bad_ dogs. And yes, this dog never did anything to _me_," Professor Lupin's eyes focused fiercely on Bane and he growled, "but he did do something _very bad_ to _you_."

Harry drew back in confusion and surprise, staring at Lupin as though expecting an explanation. He wasn't going to get one though as Professor Lupin left.

When he was completely gone from sight, Harry, now too angry to think about what the professor had said, turned to Bane and said, "Come on, let's go."

Bane whined, and slunk along behind Harry looking like he had done something bad and was being punished for it. This made Harry even angrier at Professor Lupin. How dare he make Bane feel so bad. He'd been nothing but a good dog ever since Harry found him. Finally, Harry stopped walking and knelt down.

"It's okay Bane," Harry said taking hold of Bane's head and staring him in the eyes, "don't listen to him, he doesn't know anything about you-you're a good dog, a _good dog_."

Bane simply began whimpering and collapsed down to the ground, whining and crying. Harry sighed and sat down next to the dog, and waited for him to perk up.

* * *

That's all for now, thanks for reading!


	10. This isn't the Inquisition

**_Many thanks to everyone who took the time to review! I'm glad you're enjoying it!_**

Things get a little interesting in this chapter :O but that's supposed to happen since we're nearing the end. I hope you like it,

_**Chapter Ten**_

Harry supposed he should have expected it, but he didn't.

The next morning at breakfast he noticed Professor Lupin stood up before the meal was fully over and went to speak to the headmaster. At first, the headmaster seemed surprised and then his facial expression deteriorated into something hard and icy...an expression Harry had never seen on the headmaster's face. Dumbledore then leaned over to say something to McGonagall whose face sank into a fierce look, the same one she got whenever someone was really in trouble but she didn't want to give away what sort of punishment they were in for.

Dumbledore then stood up and he and Professor Lupin went to stand in a corner where they spoke furiously to each other. Then they both looked very tired, and the headmaster looked over to study Harry and Harry knew that nothing good was going to come of this.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, touching Harry's shoulder and making him jump.

"Look," Harry told her, and she also turned to look at the two men.

"Oh no," Hermione gasped, "surely, you don't think…"

She wasn't able to finish her sentence as the headmaster began walking up to the Gryffindor table and stopped right in front of Harry.

"Mr. Potter," the headmaster said, with the tone of someone speaking to a wild animal, "would you please come up to my office? You're not in trouble, I just have a few questions to ask you."

Hermione gasped, and then threw her hand over her mouth and looked at Harry with utter dejection in her eyes. Harry felt a thick lump of dread in his throat and he stood up, and everyone at the table began whispering furiously.

"Do go wait by the doorway for me," Dumbledore told Harry gently. Then he raised his voice and announced very loudly, "Everyone, students, please, may I have your attention. All Defense Against the Dark Arts classes will be cancelled for today, and the Gryffindor Tower will be locked until dinner time. If you do not have all of your books or supplies for the whole day, you won't be punished."

The Great Hall filled with a huge roar upon hearing this announcement, and Headmaster Dumbledore, approached Harry and gently placed his hand between his shoulder blades to propel him forward. Professor Lupin slowly followed behind them, feet dragging like a toddler on its way to be punished.

Once they reached the headmaster's office, Dumbledore gently directed Harry to the seat before his desk. Then he went to the other side of the office and created some sort of soundless bubble. Then he waved for Professor Lupin to join him inside of it, and there the two men talked until Professor Lupin began yelling and gesturing furiously. Dumbledore, though, remained physically calm, but his face was hard as he spoke to Lupin. After this went on for a while, Dumbledore dropped the bubble and Professor Lupin went to go stand in the back of the office, glaring at the wall dejectedly.

"Harry," the headmaster said softly, his angry look dissolving into a more friendly expression as he sat down at his desk before Harry, "I have a few questions for you about your dog."

"You're going to take him away, aren't you," Harry demanded, not liking this situation at all.

Dumbledore's face gave nothing away and he replied, "That's-"

"I won't let you take him away!" Harry yelled, "It's not fair! Professor Lupin's had it out for Bane ever since he saw him! Besides, it's not like I'm the only one with a pet that's not on the approved list! It's just because Bane belongs to me and Professor Lupin doesn't like dogs!"

"Harry," Professor Lupin began with a sigh.

"No!" Harry yelled, jumping out of his chair, "He's a good dog, he's way better behaved than Trevor-"

"Trevor?" Dumbledore questioned in confusion.

"Neville's toad," Harry replied, "he runs away all the time! No one knows where he is and he turns up weeks later! Bane stays in my dorm during classes and never goes anywhere without me!"

"With good reason," Professor Lupin growled.

"Remus," the headmaster chided, "please control your temper, I know this is frustrating for you, but we'll get this worked out."

Professor Lupin's eyes flashed an eerie gold color and he ran his hand through his graying hair and made a frustrated noise. He turned away from both Harry and the headmaster once more and took several deep breaths.

"Harry, we'd like to make this as easy as possible, so please just answer all of my questions honestly...and do take a seat, this isn't the inquisition," the headmaster said gently. "Now can you please tell us when you got your dog?"

"I found him over the summer," Harry explained, and Professor Lupin hissed and made a weird growling noise.

"You found him?" Dumbledore repeated blandly.

"Yes, the night I ran away from the Dursley's, why does this matter?"

"Has he ever tried to hurt you?" Professor Lupin demanded, turning to face Harry, his eyes fiery and looking like molten gold. Lupin was acting very odd, more so than usual and it made Harry a bit uncomfortable.

"Of course not!" Harry exclaimed, offended, "he'd never hurt me! He tried to protect me from the dementors!"

"That's true," Professor Lupin grudgingly admitted. "He dragged Harry away from them on the train; I'm not sure how he managed that-"

"We'll discuss that later," Dumbledore assured him, and then he turned to Harry and asked, "Has he ever tried to hurt any of your friends?"

"The only thing he's ever tried to hurt was Scabbers, but Crookshanks doesn't like Scabbers either so you can't say he's being bad!" Harry replied defensively.

"Scabbers?" Professor Lupin asked, brow furrowed in confusion.

"I believe that is the pet rat of Harry's friend Ronald," Dumbledore explained

"A _rat_?" Professor Lupin exclaimed in horror.

Dumbledore then looked to Harry, "I seem to recall Percival also having a pet rat?"

"Yeah," Harry replied, "Scabbers was Percy's but when Percy made prefect he got an owl so he gave Scabbers to Ron."

"A rat?" Professor Lupin said again.

"Yeah," Harry replied, thinking that this was another animal that Lupin didn't like. At least, with a rat it was easy to see what the problem there would be, "but he's not gross, well…I mean, he's been really stressed out and losing hair so he's kind of ugly…we had to put him in a cage to keep him from running off and so Crookshanks and Bane couldn't attack him."

"Get him to bring both of them up here," Professor Lupin demanded turning his fierce look to Dumbledore.

"No! You can't take them away!" Harry yelled, "Scabbers has been here since Percy's first year-no one's ever had a problem with him before! Ron will kill me if you take him away!"

Harry tried to appeal to Dumbledore, "Please, sir, they aren't causing any trouble!"

"Harry," The headmaster said, his eyes twinkling, but his tone firm, "Why don't you go and explain to your dog, Wolfsbane, is it?" At Harry's nod he continued, "Tell him that things will be much easier for him if he willingly comes here and explains himself to me. Tell him that he'd be much better off telling me than say…a group of aurors?"

Harry looked very confused and asked, "What does that even mean?"

"Tell him to bring the rat too," Professor Lupin demanded.

"And bring Ronald's rat as well," Dumbledore added gently.

"Keep it in its cage," Professor Lupin told Harry.

Harry drew himself in righteous anger and demanded, "Why do you hate animals so much?"

"Harry," Dumbledore said firmly, "do calm down. No one is in trouble and I'm sure Professor Lupin does not hate animals. Now please, Harry, just do as we've asked-please ask Wolfsbane to come here and talk to us, and bring Scabbers along. I'm sure Professor Lupin wants you to keep him in his cage so that Bane won't attack him on the way here."

"That's right, Harry," Professor Lupin agreed, sounding exhausted, "we don't want Scabbers getting hurt and we just want to talk to Bane."

"He's a pretty smart dog," Harry told them doubtfully, "but I don't think he can talk."

Dumbledore smiled in clear amusement, "You'd be surprised what sorts of things certain animals can do."

"How am I supposed to get into the tower if it's locked, though?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore looked like he hadn't thought of this and after a bit of thought finally said, "When you get to the guardian portrait for Gryffindor Tower instead of your password say 'Nitwit Blubber Oddment Tweak.'"

Harry blinked in confusion and asked, "Wasn't that your opening speech my first year?"

Dumbledore seemed to have forgotten what he said, "Wasn't what, now?"

"Um…nothing," Harry replied and he stood to go up to the tower to get Wolfsbane and Scabbers so they could _talk_ to the headmaster and Professor Lupin.

"Harry," Dumbledore said, his voice soothing, "don't worry, it is certainly not my wish to remove Wolfsbane from you or Scabbers from Mr. Weasley. Professor Lupin and I just need to sort something out."

Harry for some reason felt like Dumbledore was telling the truth and that by the end of the day he could go back up to his dorm and do his homework with Wolfsbane's help. Harry stood up and left the office, Professor Lupin stared at him, as though willing Harry to forgive him for doing this. Harry ignored him.

He slowly made his way through empty halls and up to the Gryffindor Tower, there was no one in the hallway and the fat lady simply sighed at him and said, "I'm sorry dear, I'm not to let anyone in, even with the password."

Harry hoped he remembered the order correctly and said, "Nitwit, blubber, oddment, tweak."

The portrait immediately opened, which was bizarre because it normally seemed as if the fat lady had to acknowledge that you'd given the password. The portrait closed automatically behind him and Harry went up to his dorm and found Wolfsbane asleep on his bed.

"Bane," Harry called, and he immediately woke up and then looked at Harry questioningly. Bane probably knew he was supposed to be in class, but he nonetheless jumped down from Harry's bed and trotted over to him.

"Um…Professor Lupin said something to the headmaster this morning at breakfast," Harry told Wolfsbane, "and they took me up to Dumbledore's office and asked me a lot of questions about you."

Wolfsbane stopped in his progress and waited to see if Harry was going to say more.

"They say that they want you to come with me and _talk _to them, which is stupid because you can't talk, and they said…what was it…that it would easier if you talked to them, instead of a bunch of aurors."

Wolfsbane slumped to the ground.

"The weird thing is that they want me to bring Scabbers too," Harry added, rolling his eyes, and Wolfsbane jumped up, tail wagging and went to wait by the door for Harry. Harry blinked in confusion and went to grab Scabbers' cage, Scabbers seemed to have found a second wind and was scurrying around the cage desperately, climbing and chewing everything he could reach, including Harry's fingers.

"Ow!" Harry yelled, shaking the cage roughly, "You'd better be nice to me, you stupid rat!"

Harry took his time going up to the headmaster's office, and spent the whole walk telling Wolfsbane just how much he loved him, even though he was a dog. The closer they got to Dumbledore's office, though the less sure Wolfsbane became. When they'd left the dorm, Bane's tail had been wagging firmly and he looked very happy, but now his tail was nearly dragging the ground and he would look over in the direction of the main entrance every so often.

"Dumbledore said it would be okay once everything was sorted out," Harry told Wolfsbane, "it'll be okay."

But Harry wasn't sure it would be.

When Harry arrived at Dumbledore's office the gargoyle automatically leapt aside and Harry and Wolfsbane walked into the staircase. Dumbeldore and Professor Lupin were waiting for them at the open door.

Professor Lupin immediately took the cage from Harry's hands and began studying the frantic rodent inside.

Dumbledore knelt down in front of Wolfsbane, a funny sight and studied the dog very closely.

"I am pleased you could join us Mr.-"

"Wolfsbane," Professor Lupin interjected firmly and Dumbledore smiled widely and agreed, "Mr. Wolfsbane, indeed."

Dumbledore held out his hand and Wolfsbane stuck his paw gingerly atop of it. Dumbledore shook it gently and said, "I must say, I am impressed with your recent…achievements…" Dumbledore began frowning a little and added, "though I do not approve of them.

Wolfsbane sneezed and lowered his head submissively.

"As I'm sure Harry has told you, Remus and I wish to ask you a few questions," Dumbledore told Wolfsbane.

"This is him," Professor Lupin announced, "he's quite sickly, older and won't sit still, but I'm sure it must be him."

"You know Scabbers?" Harry demanded in complete shock.

Remus coughed, looking a bit embarrassed, and replied, "We're old friends."

"_What_?"

"Now, now Harry," Dumbledore said cheerfully, "I'm sure the situation is just as confusing for you as it is for me. This has been a most interesting morning."

"I suppose," Professor Lupin said slowly, and he placed the cage containing Scabbers down on the headmaster's desk, "We should start with Wolfsbane."

Wolfsbane whined and turned to look at Harry, which confused all the humans in the room. Then Bane got up and grabbed Harry's robe and pulled him to the door of Dumbledore's office.

"Ah, yes, it appears that Wolfsbane would like to speak to Professor Lupin and I in confidence." Dumbledore declared, "If you don't mind waiting outside, we'll retrieve you when we're done."

Wolfsbane let Harry go once he was on the landing outside of the door, which closed immediately when Bane backed up a few inches into the office. Harry punched the door in anger and then let out a mangled scream of pain, and sat down on the floor to nurse his hurt hand.


	11. A Dog's Tale

**_Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! Great to hear from you!_**

Well, here's the chapter you've been waiting for...I hope you all like it and that it's not a let-down XD After this there are two more chapters and two sets of outtakes, so we're almost finished here :O

Enjoy!

_**Chapter Eleven**_

The door closed with a slight grinding sound and Wolfsbane slowly turned around to face the two men who were each studying him with no small amount of distaste.

"I think, Mr. Black," Dumbledore said firmly, all cheer from his conversation with Harry gone-he'd clearly been putting on an act to reassure the child, "that it is time you explained exactly what it is you're doing here."

Wolfsbane whimpered and looked down at the stone floor, and then with a soft pop he disappeared. In his place stood a very skinny man, though his face held a good amount of color so he had the slight appearance of being healthy. His hair was long and clean, bound at the nape of his neck and he was clean-shaven though he wore torn, dingy grey robes.

"Still in your Azkaban robes, I see, Sirius," Remus growled.

"I haven't really had time to go shopping for new ones," the man replied, softly and calmly.

"But you've had time to clean yourself up?" Remus demanded, his tone accusing, "One would think those robes would be the first thing-"

"Remus," Dumbledore interjected, "I'm sure that since Mr. Black has consented to speak to us that he will also consent to explain his motivations-"

Remus rolled his eyes and demanded, "Well, what are your motivations for still wearing your prison clothes?"

The man sighed, rubbing his face in frustration, and explained, "It's easier to go into the bathroom while the boys are in class and keep myself from getting disgusting, than it is to go into town and buy new robes."

"There's another thing," Remus barked out, disgust coloring his face, "What _were_ you doing living with _boys_, anyway?"

It took Sirius a moment to recognize what Remus was accusing him of, and he flushed red with anger, "That's _disgusting_! _How dare you_-"

"Boys!" Dumbledore injected, loudly.

"_Sleeping in Harry's bed_!"

"_He's my _godson! _I would _never-"

"Remus! Sirius! Be silent!" Dumbledore roared and the two men finally fell silent and turned away from each other. Dumbledore took a calming breath, and said, "I am well aware of the history between the two of you, and I would greatly appreciate it if the two of you would save your...arguments for later. I am a busy man and cannot be bothered to mediate the disputes of two grown men, one of whom I have employed."

He shot a firm look over to Remus who looked firmly admonished and took a couple of steps away from Sirius Black, and stared down at the floor.

"Let us remember that young Harry is outside waiting for us to finish up. Also remember that his well-being is the reason we are here," Dumbledore added. "Let's make this as quick as possible, and get any and all dangers out of the castle for the welfare of young Harry and all the students."

"You think I want to hurt Harry?" Sirius demanded in disbelief. "That's-"

"-Not so hard to believe given that you tried to kill-"

Sirius' face went slack with grief and he explained, voice hollow with despair, "I _never_ tried to kill-"

Dumbledore cleared his throat before the two men could begin to argue once more and he said, "There are clearly many things that we don't seem to understand, Sirius. It has been widely acknowledged that the reason you escaped from Azkaban was to extract revenge and kill Harry Potter..."

"That's not true!" Sirius breathed, shaking his head sharply, "well...mostly not true."

"Then us what is true," Dumbledore asked, his gaze firm upon Sirius' eyes.

"Well, I certainly don't want to kill or otherwise _harm _Harry," Sirius replied with a glare at Remus for extra measure. "But it is true that I wanted revenge...but not against Harry, I'd _never _hurt Harry. I wanted to kill _him_," Sirius pointed to the shivering, caged rat on Dumbledore's desk, "Peter Pettigrew."

Dumbledore turned to look at the rat on his desk with mild interest and then replied, "You certainly don't seem to have succeeded."

Sirius coughed and agreed, "No, sir."

"Why is that?" Dumbledore asked, peering down at the prone rat, "He certainly doesn't seem to be difficult prey."

"Not sporting enough for you?" Remus asked, snidely.

"I can't kill him now," Sirius explained softly, "I don't want to leave Harry alone now that I've gotten to know him, and if I killed Peter then I'd go straight back _there_," Sirius finished with an involuntary shudder.

"What do you mean 'You don't want to leave Harry alone?'" Remus snarled.

"I'm his godfather!" Sirius exclaimed.

"You're a criminal!"

"You can see for yourself," Sirius growled, waving angrily at the cage on Dumbledore's desk, "that I'm not!"

"Why don't you explain everything to us, Sirius," Dumbledore demanded.

Sirius Black swallowed and looked between Dumbledore and Remus, and asked, "You're just going to take me at my word?"

"I assure you, Mr. Black," Dumbledore replied, eyes twinkling, "there is no way you could lie in this room without me knowing it."

"I wasn't Lily and James' secret keeper," Sirius announced. "I convinced them not to pick me...I thought I was too obvious, that I was the one everyone would suspect as being the secret keeper..." Sirius choked and stared down at the floor, "So they chose Peter instead, but he was a death eater and none of us knew! It was like I'd handed them over on a silver platter!"

Remus looked stricken and unable to process the information.

"Why didn't you mention this?" Remus demanded finally, "To anyone!"

"No one would have listened!" Sirius growled, "They tossed me into Azkaban without a second thought or a trial! And they left little Harry to those goddamn muggles!"

"Language, Sirius!" Dumbledore scolded.

"I apologize, headmaster," Sirius replied, not looking very sorry at all.

"Do continue, Sirius," Dumbledore encouraged him.

It took Sirius a moment to gather up the strength to continue with the most painful part of his story, and when he finally managed his eyes were watery.

"The second I found out what I'd done, that I'd left them-James-to a _death eater_," Sirius choked out, "I went to their house...and-there was just little Harry...Peter was all I could think about, I _had_ to find him. I couldn't understand why he'd _ever_ betray his only friends...I wanted to kill him for what he'd done. When I finally found him, he acted like it had been me and he blew himself up, I thought he had died and everyone held me responsible for killing him, the muggles, Lily and James..."

Sirius stared down at the floor, lost in memories, and then he continued suddenly, "And then, I saw it," he dug into his pocket and produced a worn torn up sheet of paper and handed it over to Dumbledore. It was a family picture of the Weasleys when they were in Egypt after winning the money drawing over the summer. Ron held a much healthier Scabbers in the picture, "when Fudge came to inspect, I saw him on the cover of _The Prophet. _I realized he was still alive and with the Weasleys no less. It was simple after that. I could track him down and kill him-"

"All you had to do was escape from Azkaban," Remus finished for him.

Sirius grinned, a hint of the mischievous boy showing through, and he continued, "Once I'd gathered up enough strength to transform, I could think again. Animals are more or less immune to the dementors-"

"Which is how you got Harry away from them on the train," Remus said in sudden realization, and Sirius nodded.

"It didn't take me long after seeing Peter in the newspaper to realize that I'd become so skinny even as a dog that I could slip through the bars, and I walked out past all the dementors and swam back to shore," Sirius finished.

"Deviously simplistic," Dumbledore commented in surprise.

Sirius gave the headmaster a wry look and replied, "I suppose, in retelling it is..."

Dumbledore nodded in concession, "I don't doubt that it was a trial. It is nonetheless an impressive story. Now if you could just explain how you came to be with Harry, and what it is exactly that you want with him."

"I wanted to see him, before I got sent back to prison for killing Peter. I couldn't imagine that I'd have another chance...so I tracked him down. I'd planned to just look through his windows and see him or something," Sirius sighed and shook his head, "but that plan…didn't work out like I'd intended. On my way to Harry's house, I noticed a kid with a trunk running away from somewhere. I, for some reason, thought…it _might _be him. So I followed along and tried to get close enough to see, but dog eyes can't always see things too well, so I had to get pretty close.

"Well, he saw me first and it startled him so badly he fell. I worried he'd been hurt and didn't want to leave him alone in the rain if he couldn't walk. I went a little closer to make sure he was okay. That's when he started saying he was in trouble and he needed to run away. I wasn't too concerned about that because how much trouble can a thirteen year old get into, really? So I was just going to let him continue on his way, but he had no sense of how to take care of himself! He'd _dropped his wand _and forgotten about it, _and _he didn't know how to even call the Knight Bus!" Sirius shook his head affectionately at Harry's ignorance. "I decided he couldn't be left alone just yet and was going to see him off to someplace safe...but the more time I spent with him, the more I wanted to be a part of his life."

"Harry is quite the personable young man," Dumbledore agreed. Sirius smiled in pride at the praise of his godson.

"That's why I didn't kill Peter," Sirius finished, "I just want to pick up my life, and take care of Harry, like I should have been doing all of these years. However, I couldn't figure out how to get Peter to the authorities without them just tossing me back in jail without another thought..."

"I should think that would have been very easy once you'd gotten him in this cage," Dumbeldore murmured as he turned to look at the rat. It had its paws folded underneath him so it was impossible to tell if the rat was missing a finger as Peter Pettigrew would be.

"I'm not so sure," Sirius replied slowly. "Everyone thinks I'm a crazy murderer hell bent on revenge. You honestly think they'd listen to me if I showed up at Auror HQ with a sick rat in a birdcage and said I was innocent, see look! Here's Peter Pettigrew!"

Dumbledore chuckled and replied, "I believe you may have point there. Now, Sirius, there's one last thing that I need to know...Did you ever reveal yourself to Harry?"

"Of course not!" Sirius exclaimed, shocked at the very thought, "You know _they'd_ arrest Harry for harboring a criminal in a second! It was best to keep him safe and in the dark so he wouldn't end up in prison himself!"

Dumbledore looked troubled by the accusation and replied, "You may indeed be correct, but we will fortunately never know."

Dumbledore tilted his glasses and leaned closer to study the rat once more, and Sirius turned to Remus who had fallen silent and was now staring thoughtfully at the wall.

"I'm sorry Remus," Sirius said softly, "things would have been so different if I'd been more suspicious of Peter than you..."

"It's not all your fault," Remus admitted, "I'd thought you were the spy, given your family history."

Dumbledore reached for one of his quills and began poking at the rat through the bars of the cage, presumably in an attempt to get the rat to move.

"Not too much of stretch really," Sirius replied. "I can see how it would be an easy mistake to make..."

"I shouldn't have doubted you, though," Remus insisted, "you always loved James more than you loved anything."

"They were frightening times," Sirius told him softly. "It was impossible to trust anyone."

"Forgive me, old friend?"

"Of course, I forgive you. You were trying to protect them just the same as I was."

The two men gave each other a firm hug for several seconds.

Dumbledore seemed to have given up on the quill and was now holding the cage and shifting it slowly trying to knock the rat off balance.

"You could just force him to transform," Remus suggested in amusement.

"I fear that he could run away," Dumbledore explained, "I don't have the means to keep a rat animagus within my office. Aha!" Dumbledore exclaimed, upon tilting the cage rather quickly. He turned to smile at Remus and Sirius and commented brightly, "That worked quite well."

"So what will happen now, Headmaster?" Sirius asked.

"Well, I daresay I may have done Harry a grave disservice," Dumbledore sighed, "I told him if all went well he'd have his dog back at the end of the day. Instead it appears he'll be losing one."

Sirius looked like he'd been struck and thrown back to the dementors, "What-"

"Though, I fear he'll be gaining a godfather," Dumbledore finished, and Sirius' face lit up with unabashed hope. "Excuse me for a moment, gentlemen, I have a few firecalls to make. You may want to make yourself more comfortable, Mr. Black, I think you may have a lot more questions to answer."

Sirius suddenly looked back to the office door, "Harry-"

"Ah, yes," Dumbledore exclaimed, "yes, we certainly don't want to leave Mr. Potter out there all day, and I imagine he'd like to say goodbye to Wolfsbane..."

Sirius immediately transformed back into a dog and went to sit patiently by the office door.


	12. Prototypes

_**Thanks to everyone who took the time to review! I love hearing from you!**_

I'm glad everyone liked the last chapter, I was a bit nervous that it would disappoint...this chapter is just a lot of light-hearted fun :D hope you like it!

_**Chapter Twelve**_

Harry felt like he'd been waiting out on that stairwell for hours, and his butt really hurt. He'd finally settled down on the floor his back to the door and was trying not to fall asleep, which was easier said than done at this point. It had been forever! Just how long could a conversation with a dog last? _Honestly_!

The door Harry was leaning against moved suddenly and Harry fell backwards before he could catch himself. Immediately, Wolfsbane was excitedly sniffing and licking at his face.

"Wolfsbane!" Harry exclaimed gleefully, and he quickly sat up to pet his dog.

"Harry," Dumbledore said softly, and Harry's smile immediately disappeared at the tone and he looked helplessly between the headmaster and Professor Lupin. Wolfsbane didn't seem to notice and continued to bounce around Harry happily. "I fear that Wolfsbane will have to leave you."

"Why?" Harry demanded, sounding like this physically wounded him. Wolfsbane nudged his chin and made a soft, encouraging noise.

"It appears Professor Lupin was right in the fact that Wolfsbane was hiding something," Dumbledore explained, but he continued before Harry could try to defend his dog, "However, he _was _wrong about the secret being something malicious. Wolfsbane is indeed a fine animal; you were quite right about his character."

Harry's eyes were wide with confusion and hurt and he asked, voice cracking, "Then…why does he have to go?"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled merrily and he replied, "I'm sure Wolfsbane will be happy to tell you himself in a couple of days."

Harry's face went slack in confusion and he stared at Dumbledore in disbelief.

Dumbledore clapped his hands together, businesslike, and continued, "As for poor Scabbers-"

"Poor, poor Scabbers," Remus interjected looking sorrowful, but it didn't reach his eyes which were crinkled in an almost-smile.

"Poor Scabbers is going to die," Dumbledore sighed and Harry looked horrified, all color leaving his face.

"But Ron!" Harry began, flabbergasted, "He'll blame me!"

"I fear no one can be blamed for Scabbers' misfortune," Dumbledore assured him.

"It's quite true," Professor Lupin agreed, sorrowfully, "rats are dirty creatures prone to sniffing around the most disgusting of places and associating with the worst scum...no one can be held responsible for the disease he's picked up. It's simply the nature of the rat."

"Not only that," Dumbledore continued, "but we are afraid that Scabbers' ailment is contagious and can be passed on to humans. It's possible that you and your roommates have caught his disease-you'll have to be treated immediately, and we will have to remove Scabbers from the school as soon as possible."

"But how will I tell Ron!" Harry wailed, looking sick at the thought of having to confront his best friend. "He loved Scabbers and his parents probably won't be able get him another pet!"

"I'm sure that something can be arranged for Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said mysteriously, eyes twinkling as he looked down at Wolfsbane who barked once in agreement.

"Now why don't you run along to lunch," Dumbledore told Harry brightly, "And after take all of your roommates up to the hospital wing for treatment. Wolfsbane, would you please say goodbye to Harry?"

Wolfsbane eagerly pounced Harry and began licking and sniffing around his face, while Harry struggled and giggled helplessly. After a few moments, he was flushed and unable to maintain his frown, Wolfsbane looked as satisfied as a dog possibly could.

"Now Harry," Dumbledore said brightly, "Professor Lupin and I have a bit of business to attend to, Scabbers must be sent off to the proper authorities, and we must introduce Wolfsbane to a few associates of mine..."

Then, Dumbledore helped Harry up off the floor and began talking about pineapples and something else nonsensical until Harry realized he was no longer in Dumbledore's office and Dumbledore was nowhere to be seen.

"Bonkers!" Harry breathed out, in utter confusion, "_Completely _bonkers!"

* * *

Hermione gasped in shock and Ron looked a little green around the edges.

"He says that all of us: me, Ron, Neville, Dean and Seamus have to go get some medicine after lunch," Harry finished.

"I'm up in your room a lot," Hermione said, fearfully, "maybe I should go too!"

"What about us?" Fred or possible George asked, and the other one added, "We _lived_ with Scabbers!"

"And Ginny!" Ron squeaked, turning pale.

"All fantastic points!" Dumbledore exclaimed, appearing suddenly, and looking positively joyous. "In fact, all of Gryffindor house should receive treatment! It's only safe."

Dumbledore's voice became loud once more, "Following lunch, all of Gryffindor should return to Gryffindor Tower to receive emergency treatment for a disease which has been spread by one of the students' pet rat."

"Good job, _Ron_," The twins taunted together and Ron flushed as Gryffindor table turned to stare at him.

"In addition, all classes following lunch will be cancelled," Dumbledore paused while everyone cheered wildly, "as will tomorrow's classes!"

Several students leapt to their feet, applauding vivaciously, and the noise level of the Great Hall increased ten-fold at the good news.

Dumbledore cheerfully made his way up to the high table and moments later Professor Lupin walked in, he paused to smile questioningly at Harry.

Harry decided he may as well smile back, and it looked like it made the professor's day.

* * *

About thirty minutes after the first people received their treatment they began laughing and joking around quite loudly and soon the entire house was as well. Everyone was bouncing off the walls and Fred and George managed to somehow remember the lyrics to the school song and were belting it out as loud as they possibly could.

Ron was laughing as he cried over the impending death of Scabbers while his audience laughed along with him.

Some students had decided to play exploding snap, but merely ended up throwing them at each other and shrieking with laughter when they exploded on impact.

Off in the corner Professor McGonagall and Headmaster Dumbledore were talking.

"Cheering Potions?" McGonagall demanded, "_Really_?"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled merrily and he replied, "It's the only cure for the mysterious ailment which plagued young Mr. Weasley's rat."

"Honestly, Albus, it will take them hours to calm down," McGonagall complained.

"Then enjoy your afternoon off, Minerva," Dumbledore replied, "I'm sure I'll have great fun looking after them."

"And perhaps sometime this evening you'll explain to me how we went from a lock-down due to Sirius Black being in the school to administering Cheering Potions as if we were dealers."

"It's a most delightful story," Dumbledore assured her, "and I'll be most happy to share."

"Hmm," McGonagall murmured thoughtfully, scanning the room, "wherever has Mr. Potter's delightful dog gone?"

"Remus told me you examined him," Dumbledore commented, nonchalantly.

"The man was paranoid," McGonagall sighed, rolling her eyes, "I just cast a few spells here and there to make it look like I did."

Dumbledore chuckled knowingly and repeated, "A _most_ delightful story, I shall _thoroughly _enjoy seeing your reaction, Minerva."

"Well, I'm off, all this noise is beginning to give me a headache," McGonagall sighed.

"Whenever did you grow old, my dear?" Dumbledore asked looking scandalized.

"A few hundred years after you did," McGonagall teased, and then she left the common room full of wild Gryffindors.

"Sir," Fred or George genially greeted Dumbledore, leaving the group of students they'd gotten to join in with singing the school song, "can we interest you in a sweet?"

"Oh, certainly boys!" Dumbledore said brightly, and the twins gave him something resembling a custard cream. They then quickly made their escape and Dumbledore happily ate it and then suddenly sprouted bright yellow feathers, which made him chuckle merrily.

* * *

The next morning, all the Gryffindors stumbled in, late, for breakfast looking extremely subdued and tired.

Dumbledore's beard and hair were now bright yellow feathers which paired with the yellow robe he'd chosen to wear made quite the statement. Harry was quite sure that it was the yellow robe that he'd bought while shopping with Harry over the summer.

"Need to work on that," one of the twins commented tiredly to the other, noticing the feathers which Dumbledore was still sporting from the afternoon before.

"Maybe later," the other one replied.


	13. Passing the Torch

**_Many, many thanks to everyone who has been reading and reviewing! I'm glad you've enjoyed it! And I hope you like the ending!_**

This is the official last chapter of Wolfsbane, but there are two outtakes that I'll be posting over the next couple of days, one serious and relevant to the fic, but it didn't really fit in anywhere else...and the other will be absolutely horrible, terrible, unrepentant, utterly hilarious, delightful crack of the highest order. Both are definitely worth a read :D

Also, there will be a point in this chapter where you'll go "_OH NO SHE DIDN'T_" but yeah, I totally did. I was nerding out, it had to happen.

On that note: Disclaimer: I don't own anything which is used or referenced in this fic, and I especially don't own Harry Potter

_**Chapter Thirteen**_

Several days later, as all of the students were piling into the great hall an extra person at the head table garnered someone's notice. He was seated next to Professor Lupin and the two were talking amicably...in spite of the powerful death rays being sent their way by Professor Snape.

It wasn't too long after that someone realized:

"_It's Sirius Black_!"

Everyone began to panic, but Dumbledore instructed all of them to be seated and he would explain all momentarily. Dumbledore waited until the hall was full of warily whispering students before speaking.

"Now that all the students are here," Dumbledore said, standing up to address everyone, a few odd yellow feathers still sticking out at odd angles from his hair and beard, "I can begin my explanation. Sirius Black is indeed here, but you have no need to fear him. As some of you will see in this morning's _Daily Prophet _he has been completely pardoned for the crimes that led to his imprisonment. Mr. Black is entirely innocent, and the horrible crimes were in fact committed by Peter Pettigrew who was found alive and then turned in by Mr. Black. In addition, those with Defense Against the Dark Arts first today will find their class has been cancelled. That is all, please enjoy your breakfast."

Food appeared on the table, but most students were too busy talking about what happened to eat. When the post arrived, newspapers were passed around and read aloud.

As breakfast drew to a close, McGonagall approached Harry and told him that he was to stay after breakfast to meet with the headmaster.

Ron and Hermione sent him sympathetic looks, and Harry rolled his eyes and ate his breakfast. When the chimes rang, all the students began leaving, and Harry said goodbye to Ron and Hermione and waited nervously as all the other students trailed past him. Once the great hall cleared out, Harry was left behind with only Sirius Black, Professor Lupin, and the headmaster. The three men slowly walked up to Harry, and he nervously gripped his book-bag wondering what this could possibly have to do with him.

Sirius Black didn't look much like a criminal; he wore nice, brand-new robes. His face was clean-shaven and his shoulder-length hair was pulled back into a low ponytail. He looked nothing like the crazy looking starved man on the cover of _The Daily Prophet_…though he did look dreadfully nervous and cautious-if the slight sheen of sweat on his forehead was any indication. He was also clutching at a small fuzzy black thing.

For a moment the four of them stood in an awkward silence before Dumbledore finally said, eyes twinkling, "I believe someone has something they'd like to say to you, Harry."

Startled, Sirius Black, turned to look at the headmaster and then upon seeing no help forthcoming from Dumbledore, he nervously cleared his throat held out the small black thing he held in his arms. It was a a tiny, shaggy black puppy. It squirmed happily in his hands, tongue lolling blissfully.

"I know you're not much one for dogs," he said, "but you seemed to like…Wolfsbane well enough, so I thought you might like to have a replacement."

"What do you mean?" Harry demanded, instantly suspicious, and he turned accusingly to Professor Lupin, "What happened to Bane? Is he all right?"

"Bane," Sirius Black cleared his throat, and looked down at the ground anxiously, "got pardoned because he found Peter Pettigrew and turned him into the authorities…"

Harry stared blankly at him, not understanding what he was saying. This had to be some sort of weird adult code.

"I'm Wolfsbane," Sirius Black blurted out, "I'm an animagus."

Harry continued to stare blankly at him, still really not understanding what was going on, "Surely, you can't be serious," Harry said in disbelief.

Sirius tilted his head and with a wry grin he replied, "I am Sirius and don't call me Shirley."

Remus snorted and said, "I don't think that's helping, Sirius."

"Okay, okay, you're right, I'm not doing a good job of explaining. Let me start over," Sirius sighed, "...Hello, I'm Sirius Black," He shifted the dog into one hand and held out the other, and Harry took it simply because it was the only thing he could think to do, "and I'm an animagus with the ability to turn into a large black dog."

Professor Lupin agreed, "It's true, Harry, and he has been posing as your pet all this time."

They were serious. But...Harry's brow furrowed and he looked between Lupin and Black and how well they seemed to be getting on...which seemed like it couldn't be right if Sirius Black was Wolfsbane. They'd never gotten on before. This couldn't be right. This couldn't be right at all!

"Then why are you two acting like friends?" Harry asked. "Professor Lupin, you hate Wolfsbane!"

"That's a bit complicated," Lupin sighed and he explained, "I knew he was an animagus all this time, I could recognize his form. Because I knew he was Sirius Black, I was worried about him being around you. I thought he was a murderer and I thought he was responsible for your parents' deaths. I thought he'd betrayed your parents to You-Know-Who and killed Peter and all those other people. I thought he was trying to kill you too."

Harry became even more confused and asked, "My parents? What do you mean? I don't understand."

"You see, Harry," Sirius Black haltingly explained further, "when your parents went into hiding, they had a secret keeper, and everyone thought it was me...when really it was Peter Pettigrew. After your parents were killed by You-Know-Who, I went after Peter but he set it up so that it looked like I betrayed your parents and I killed all of those people…but I didn't. He framed me and that's why I was sent to jail."

Harry began shrinking away upon hearing all of this, "What does that have to do with anything? What does this have to do with me?"

"Harry," Sirius Black croaked out, turning away from Harry and cradling the wiggling puppy against his chest, "I loved your parents, they…and Remus, your Professor Lupin and Peter were all my best friends…before. I was your dad's best man at his wedding to your mum, I was at your christening...and that's why your mum and dad made me your godfather. "

This was too much for Harry to take in and he stared down at his shoes, there was a slight shuffling noise and seconds later a small puppy appeared at his feet, sniffing and licking eagerly at his shoes. A hand lightly touched Harry's shoulder, enough to get his attention.

Sirius Black stood before him looking at Harry intensely, "I'm sorry that I didn't reveal myself to you sooner…I didn't want to scare you, and it could've put you in a lot of danger if you knew who I was. I hadn't even intended to let you see me that night when we met…I'm also sorry that I rushed after Peter the way I did twelve years ago and left you alone for so long. If I hadn't been so rash…"

Then everything could have been different. Harry turned away from Sirius and stared at the floor, trying to make sense of what he was hearing.

"Thinking things through was never your strong point, Padfoot," Professor Lupin told him softly, clapping Sirius on the shoulder.

"Padfoot?" Harry questioned, remembering the name Professor Lupin had used yesterday, "Is that what your dog form is called?"

"Yes," Sirius replied with a smile. "It's a nickname as well. We all had them because of our animagus forms...your father was called Prongs because he was a stag animagus, your Professor Lupin was called Moony..."

"Peter," Professor Lupin finished, with the venom he'd previously reserved for speaking to Bane, "was called Wormtail…because he was a rat animagus."

Harry suddenly realized what really happened to Ron's pet, and gasped, "You mean! Scabbers!"

Sirius Black and Professor Lupin exchanged a look, and then finally they both nodded. Harry felt sick realizing that the man who was responsible for his parents death had been his best friend's pet.

"_He_ was _living_ with me all this time?" Harry demanded, horrified.

"There's no need to worry, Harry," Dumbledore interjected, "he didn't harm anyone all these years he was in hiding and now he will never harm anyone again."

They lapsed into silence once more, before Dumbledore cleared his throat and looked pointedly at Sirius. The puppy was currently trying to climb its way up Harry's legs, but kept falling back down onto his shoes.

"Harry," Sirius Black said, face serious once more, "I…I would like to take my place as your godfather once more, if you'll let me. You could come for holidays or visits-of course, I understand if you don't-"

"That would be great!" Harry exclaimed, face bright enough to light up the whole hall. He felt completely overwhelmed by all of this: the betrayals, the plots, the men pretending to be pets. But this was something Harry could understand…having a _godfather_ who could take him away from the Dursleys! Harry then knelt down to pick up the puppy, "This is so great!"

Sirius Black also smiled brightly, all nervousness gone, and he enveloped Harry in a big hug, minding not to crush the tiny puppy. Then he seemed to suddenly remember something else, and firmly assured Harry, "Don't worry, Harry, everything you said to me when I was a dog is completely in confidence."

Harry flushed as he remembered all the things he'd told Wolfsbane, all the times he'd cried and held the dog for comfort, all that time he'd been a person…all that time…Harry gasped, "I gave you _baths_."

"I apologize for getting so dirty," Sirius Black said in clear amusement.

Harry clutched his new puppy in embarrassment. The puppy squirmed and desperately tried to lick Harry's face.

Sirius laughed and added, "I also need you to ask Ron what sort of pet he'd like to have to replace…"

"The rat," Professor Lupin finished blandly.

Harry looked down at the little squirming pup in his arms and then shyly asked, "Can I really come live with you?"

"Well, Headmaster-"

"Do call me Albus," Dumbledore told Sirius.

"_Albus _says that you'll need to stay with your relatives for a few weeks each summer, but all the rest of the time you're very welcome to come stay with me," Sirius told Harry. "Oh, this reminds me!"

Sirius fished something from his pocket and proudly handed it over. Harry, after looking at the paper, nearly dropped the puppy in excitement. It was his Hogsmeade permission slip, Sirius _had _remembered everything Harry had said!

"If you want, during Hogsmeade weekends, I can show you around and buy you some butterbeer and clothes that fit or something," Sirius told Harry brightly. "That way you can get to know me as a _human _before you come spend time with me during holidays."

Harry had never felt happier in his life.

"Professor Lupin," Harry gasped, "I'm going to be able to make the best Patronus _ever_."

This, for some reason, made all three adults laugh.

"If you'd like, Harry," The headmaster said, eyes twinkling, "you may take your classes off today and spend time with your godfather."

"Really?" Harry gasped in surprise.

"I don't think it will be a problem," The headmaster replied, looking at Sirius.

Sirius grinned mischievously at Harry and said, "I think we can get you all caught up on what you miss. I imagine I'll make a pretty good study buddy now that I can talk."

* * *

Sirius took Harry down to Hogsmeade where they ate lunch, and did a bit of shopping, and then they returned to the castle for dinner, which Sirius spent at the Gryffindor table. He already knew all of Harry's friends as he'd been living with them, and at their request Sirius transformed into Wolfsbane several times and they would all squeal and laugh.

Everyone also spent a good deal of time cooing over Harry's new puppy, which made Ron comment that he wished he too had a pet...now that Scabbers was dead from the mysterious disease, and Sirius promised to take him pet shopping next Hogsmeade weekend.

After dinner, Sirius had to leave, but he waited until the great hall had mostly emptied before telling Harry he had one more present for him. Sirius made Harry swear several times not to let Fred and George or anyone else see it. Harry quickly agreed, and Sirius hugged Harry tightly and quietly whispered, "If you solemnly swear that you are up to no good then turn your pockets out."

"What?" Harry asked confused and curious, "What does that mean?"

Sirius just grinned and said, "I'll see you in a couple of weeks!"

Sirius then wandered off to go speak to Professor Lupin and the other teachers who welcomed him…well, except for Snape who was acting like he wanted to use the killing curse on him...if he hadn't already administered some poison to Sirius during dinner.

Harry frowned thoughtfully and left the great hall, when he suddenly remembered he'd worn his robe with the trick pockets today. Turn his pockets out...that meant Sirius had put something in the trick pockets! Harry quickly stuck his hands in his pockets and turned them out and in the right pocket he found a worn piece of parchment. Then Harry remembered his promise to keep it secret and ducked into an alcove out of everyone's sight.

Harry studied the parchment, trying to figure out what it could possibly be, and murmured what Sirius said thoughtfully, "If I solemnly swear that I am up to no good…?"

Slowly, ink began to appear and move across the front of the sheet of parchment to form words. Harry held his breath in shock as he read the names and messages that popped up.

_Mr. Moony is quite perplexed as to why anyone who was up to no good would come looking here. Surely they can't believe that that this innocent little gem would be of use for any mischief._

_Mr. Prongs disagrees and thinks that perhaps if a person solemnly swore they were up to no good then maybe they are indeed in the right place._

_Mr. Padfoot quite agrees and that if there was no question to the fact that a person solemnly swears that they are up to no good then surely they may find assistance here._

_Mr. Wormtail thinks that if such a person were to use their wand to prove their intentions then mischief could indeed be managed._

Harry quickly retrieved his wand and placed it against the parchment and said, firmly, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!"

* * *

Fin! But stay tuned for the two outtakes!


	14. Sirius Outtakes

**_Thanks for the reviews! I always enjoy reading them!_**

The first set of outtakes, these are about Sirius' life as a dog, they're just a few, short, random scenes that were important to the development of the fic, but since everything was from Harry's point of view I couldn't include them...without taking away some of the mystery

_**Sirius Outtakes**_

"Now," Harry said, patting Wolfsbane on the head, "be a good boy and stay here."

Wolfsbane whined, and followed Harry to the door, making a grand show of being sad at being left. Harry pointed at the dog and repeated, "Stay! Stay!"

Wolfsbane sat down and whined, tail wagging slowly.

"Good boy," Harry told him, "I'll be back soon."

Harry closed the door behind him, and Wolfsbane trotted back over to his bed and lay down on top of the coverlet, ears twitching with every noise heard from the staircase and common room.

Shortly after a hush fell upon the Gryffindor tower, and Wolfsbane slipped from Harry's bed over to the dormitory door. Nudging the door open with his nose, the dog peeked out into the stairwell.

Upon seeing it empty, Wolfsbane slowly made his way up to the dormitory he'd spotted Fred and George disappearing into the night before.

The door opened, with a bit of nudging and finagling, and the dog slipped inside. Wolfsbane sniffed around, nose low to the floor, tracking and located the trunks belong to Fred and George. Sitting down before the trunk, Wolfsbane disappeared with a pop and sitting in his place was a scruffy, poorly groomed man in grey robes, Sirius Black.

Sirius opened up the trunk and began cautiously looking through it, growling in frustration when he couldn't find what he wanted. Then he turned to the other twin's trunk and began looking through it as well.

Still unable to locate whatever it was he was looking for, he turned his search to the boys' bedding, and then their beside tables.

"Where is it?" Sirius asked, voice rough, and he tapped his foot in frustration, the floorboard below him shifted with a creak and the man grinned. With a soft pop, he was Wolfsbane again, and he began sniffing all around the room, until he found it.

There was a floorboard with a slight groove on one side and it positively reeked of Fred and George Weasley.

The man reappeared and gently removed the floorboard from it's place.

Inside was the map.

Sirius smiled in triumph and replaced the board, before returning to his dog form once more, gently taking the map into his mouth and carrying it back down to the 3rd year boys' dormitory.

Once inside, the man reappeared and locked the door.

He glanced around the room appraisingly, his eyes stopping on Ron's crazed rat.

"I rather like you being in that cage," Sirius said conversationally, "it's the slightest hint of what I've been going through these last 12 years, Peter."

He waved the map and said, "Look what I've found, hard to believe it's been here all this time, and helping two great kids like Ted and Morge. We thought for sure Flitch had destroyed it, remember?"

Sirius sat next to the cage in quiet contemplation before he rubbed his scraggly beard and murmured, "Don't suppose any of these lads shave, though," He shot the rat a pointed look, "I suppose any sort of blade will do…"

The rat began gnawing desperately at the metal wires of the cage.

"Hey," the man scolded, poking the rat's head, until it fell backwards, "stop that and pull yourself together man, you'll give yourself a heart attack! I don't want you dying unless I kill you myself."

The rat cowered at the bottom of the cage, chest heaving heavily.

"Hey, now, Peter," Sirius said soothingly, "could be worse…I've been debating letting the girl's cat play with you."

If possible the prone rat's chest began heaving faster.

"I'm trying to think," the man said, pulling at his beard once more, "How old I was when I began to save…15? 16? I'll just go on up to the 7th year dorms, they're sure to have razors."

Sirius tucked the map under Harry's pillow and then returned to dog form disappearing upstairs once more. He returned several minutes later with a cheap, disposable muggle razor.

The man returned with a pop, and sat down next to the rat's cage.

"There was a kid," he told the rat, "who had a razor like mine…you remember, more of a trussed-up, dull knife than something one should use on their face and neck…I'd considered taking that, figured it would be…dead useful, but I figured this," he waved the cheap, plastic razor, "would be less likely to be missed."

The man pushed himself to his feet and said, "Now, I'm off for a shave."

He returned some time later: hair wet and pulled back with a bit of cloth, face clean shaven, the robe was damp as well.

"I feel a bit more human," the man confided in the rat, "though I suppose you haven't been anything close to human since before you let that _thing_ burn its brand into your skin. Did you enjoy being part of his proud herd of cattle?"

Then Sirius glanced at the clock in the room and took a breath to calm down. He took hold of the razor and stashed it in a dark corner under one of the beside tables where the boys would never notice it. Then he took the map from it's place under Harry's pillow…he'd need to find a _good_ place to hide this, or else he'd surely be caught. Those boys would turn him in as soon as they figured out that he was hiding in plain sight, and he just couldn't have that.

He looked appraisingly around the room before his eyes halted on the crumpled, dirty robes that Harry had worn yesterday and discarded on the floor.

The man lifted the robes and turned out one of the trick pockets before placing the map on it and then turning it back in. He quickly folded the robe and placed it in the bottom of Harry's trunk next to what looked like a photo album…hopefully, Harry wouldn't check the pockets anytime soon.

* * *

It was much easier to get a little privacy when living with five kids than you'd think…they were gone most of the day with meals and classes, and they all slept as much as humanly possible every night. They were too young to need or want to pull all-nighters.

This gave him more alone time than the average adult had, and probably a hundred times more alone time than he'd had in the last 12 years.

But whenever that alone time wasn't enough, there was a very simple way to appropriate more…

It had really started as a way to avoid waking poor, exhausted Harry up to take him out in the middle of the night, but then once he'd decided to do his best to keep Harry in his life in the future it became more a matter of preventing future embarrassment for the poor kid.

Fortunately, Harry had thought nothing of it, besides being impressed, and he passed that same attitude onto his schoolmates…so now, whenever Sirius needed a moment alone to be a human again all he had to do was go into the bathroom, close the door, transform, and then as quietly as possible lock it so no one would catch him.

Of course, he did actually use the bathroom as well, twelve years in prison made him thankful for toilets, especially ones with toilet seats.

* * *

It was almost comical watching the kids line up like they were soldiers going to war. Surely, they didn't think it would be this difficult to bathe him. He hadn't given Harry any trouble at all the last time he'd needed a bath...of course, Harry had been all alone, and he was such a little wisp of a thing so he couldn't handle a dog this size acting up all on his own.

But six kids probably could.

Sirius felt his mouth drop open into a dog-grin as he sized up the motley crew before him. If they wanted a challenge, Sirius would be most pleased to oblige...he could surely give them the full experience.

Sirius waited until they'd gotten him wet before putting his plan into motion, that way he could make a bigger mess. He shook as much water off of him as he possibly could and began running around the bathroom, with the whole army of kids following behind him.

They were a persistent lot, and it made evading capture all the more fun, and since there were so many of them Sirius trailed water all over the bathroom and all the kids ended up slipping and sliding around. Sirius drove between their legs, shook water all over them, and generally tried his best to be as difficult as possible.

Sirius grew a bit concerned that he'd gone too far when little Hermione twisted her ankle, but she took it like a champ and hopped up on the counter to bark off commands like a drill sergeant...the effect was ruined by her constant giggling.

Finally, Sirius, being the old dog he was grew tired and the kids were able to wrestle him under control, each of them looking as proud as James had when he'd been the first of the group to transform into an animal.

Sirius realized that this was probably the best he'd felt...since...Harry had been born. It was crazy to believe that he could ever feel this happy after twelve years in Azkaban. Being with these kids, especially little Harry, had changed his perception...driven away a bit of the constant darkness he'd felt since being imprisoned. Something that would have been impossible to imagine even just a month ago when his thoughts had been consumed with revenge and murder.

Sirius' mind drifted to Peter, trapped in a cage, while Sirius tried to figure out how to kill him without getting caught before he could finish the job...or without leaving his body in the school where it would cause a panic.

...Revenge wasn't enough anymore, Sirius realized.

He trotted over to where Ron and Harry were helping Hermione down from the counter so she wouldn't jostle her ankle anymore than she already had. They were all flushed red from laughter. Harry, especially, benefited from the laughter, he looked happier than he had since Sirius had found him over the summer.

Sirius had seen the kid cry more than he'd seen the kid laugh, it felt like. Harry needed someone to look out for him, someone to make him happy...and _that _would make Sirius happier than anything else in the world.

Harry couldn't be left alone again. Sirius knew that he had to change his plans now, he had to keep Peter alive and prove his innocence so that he could keep Harry this happy. He could give Harry a proper home, a proper family, and properly help the kid with his schoolwork...

Now all Sirius had to do was figure out how to turn himself and Peter in without immediately getting thrown into Azkaban without a trial...again.

With all of his plans thrown out the window, Sirius was back at square one.

But at least he wasn't in prison this time.


	15. A Proper Tale of Gentlemanly Exploits!

And now it is time for the most grand and proper finale to this fic...an unnecessary, spoofy re-imagining! **About 50% of this, and the general idea are thanks to the wonderful timydamonkey, my crackspiration.**

Anyways, be well warned that this is as cracky as it gets, ever..._ever_. It's awesome :D

This is pretty standalone and doesn't really follow any timeline whatsoever, and this is just what happens when timydamonkey and I talk for more than five minutes...

_**Outtake #2: A Proper Tale of Gentlemanly Exploits**_

"My murdering friend!" Remus exclaimed upon seeing the canine form of Sirius Black resting his head on Harry's chest, after the dementor attacks on the Hogwarts Express. "How delightful to see you atop a child who you tried to kill, who happens to be the son of my friend and endangering the students by making dementors chase them! I'm overjoyed to see you! And Peter!" Remus exclaimed, taking notice of Ron's pet rat who was inexplicably present, "What a reunion for the books! The Marauders are together again! Oh do be quiet, Sirius, Harry can stand in for James."

The two man-animals transformed into humans to engage in gentlemanly discourse-completely shocking Harry, Hermione, and Ron. Both Peter and Remus decided that it would be most proper if Sirius were to begin the discussion and conceded the floor to him.

"You are sadly mistaken and ill-informed, Remus," Sirius declared, beginning his opening statements, "Peter framed me! Look," He motioned to Peter, "he's still alive-"

"It's a lie," Peter replied, not doing much to help his case, "Remus, why would I betray James and Lily-"

"Now, boys, I'm sure this can be sorted with a good cup of tea." Remus said, soothingly to his former friends, "We could call Voldemort in as a referee."

Sirius disagreed fervently, "This is the worst idea I've ever heard-"

"How delightful!" Peter exclaimed. "My old master-"

At this moment James' ghost materialized and pleasantly greeted the group: "Oh, all this furor over me! I'm honored. Hello, chaps, how are things going? "

"H-hello...Prongs...I-I've been better..."

"Jolly good, Prongs!"

"Most excellent to see you, my dead friend! I have have been faring much better than you have, I daresay!"

James chuckled merrily, nodded his agreement, and boisterously continued, "Good to know! Ah, Peter, these are slightly more fortunate circumstances than our last meeting! I do hope you've improved your circumstances"

"...Y...yes. When I lost a limb, I lost my loyalty."

"Very poetic, Wormtail!" Sirius said snidely to the man, "But a _lie_!"

"Sirius, please, we're having a civil conversation."

"Well, I'd much rather engage the rodent in a bout of fisticuffs!"

"I say boys!" Dumbledore exclaimed, suddenly arriving on the train, "How delightful to see you all together again, I'd be honored to offer you all tea and lemon drops in my office while I call the aurors to come arrest young Sirius and Peter!"

"Perhaps a spot of tea," Sirius conceded, "not too many sweets, now-we _are _planning a sporting exhibition, sir!"

"Oh, I say!"

"A most charming notion!"

"Indeed!"

"The winner shall receive my tin of lemon drops!" Dumbledore happily declared.

"I second this motion! It sounds positively delightful."

"I-I object!"

"Don't be such a spoilsport, Wormtail."

"This is to save your life, to clear your conscience!" James encouraged brightly, "To eat those curiously delicious Muggle delicacies!"

"For old times sake, we should retreat to the shrieking shack!" Remus fondly suggested.

"I've been whilst the boys were in class," Sirius said, agreeing to the notion, "the furniture is still all there! Perfect for gentlemanly spectators, such as ourselves!"

"Excellent!"

"Perhaps we can return to our long postponed game of gin rummy?" Peter suggested, "Or dare to start something new... dare I say poker?"

"Wonderful! Aren't we all just dogs paying poker?" Sirius sighed wistfully.

"...No, Sirius, we are not playing poker in our animagus forms."

"Alright. But you're just jealous of my card prowess."

"Mayhaps, lads, we could engage in the muggle pastime of wickerball!" James suggested.

"Basketball?"

Confused, Peter asked, "Is that the ones with the shoes?"

"You'll have to be more specific, Prongs."

"Moony, I recall you being excellent at the sport with those long sticks!"

"Billiards?" Remus asked in confusion.

"I speak of the one with the hoops you have to defend from below." James explained, "What a crazy notion!"

"I don't know, fellows, with a gravity defying spell-"

"...Muggles, Sirius. Muggles. For a smart man, you know nothing of Muggles."

"We shall do with this muggle sport what we've done with the wireless, lads!" Sirius declared gallantly, "We shall improve upon it with our powerful magic and ingenuity! Levitation spells all around!"

The men who had them drew their wands.

"Shall we transfigure Peter into the ball?" Sirius asked, realizing they were missing something.

"This is a spectacular idea! Wormtail, this will require honour... and integrity! Do not hold onto the hoop."

Dumbledore gently encouraged all of them: Sirius, Remus, Peter, Ron, Harry, and Hermione to grab onto his beard, which he'd made into a portkey. Within seconds they all landed on the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch for the sporting exhibition, moments later James arrived in a ghastly poof of gentlemanly sparkles. Inexplicably Sirius, Remus, and Peter were wearing suits.

"Look at that gentlemanly trio on the Quidditch pitch!" Harry delightedly exclaimed to his friends, "Lo, they are even wearing suits!"

James would have been wearing one as well, but as a ghost he was doomed to look as he had upon dying. Most tragic, for like most gentlemen, he was quite handsome when suitably suited up.

"...Why are you talking like that, Harry?" Hermione asked, sending him an odd look.

"...I don't know."

"I've been teaching the boy words through my barks, fellow Marauders!" Sirius explained to his former comrades who nodded sagely in approval. "It is quite fabulous really."

"Hark, Padfoot!" James said with a chuckle, "That must sound quite ridiculous."

"It must be done! These students have lost all sense of decorum," Sirius replied, "why even our good rival Snivellus had more manners"

"The lout!" James replied with affectionate nostalgia.

"I say," Peter exclaimed, offended, "I was associates with that fellow!"

"Wormtail, I do think that's enough from you!"

"Shall we have the good Madam Hooch referee?" James inquired, looking ready to go retrieve her.

"Indeed!" Dumbledore agreed, brightly, "A referee is most necessary for a proper bout."

"We must be sporting and proper, lads!" Sirius sagely declared to his fellow marauders, "For the ladies!"

All the men fell silent in gentlemanly thoughts of being…_proper _to ladies.

"Moony, I hear you are colleagues with good Snivellus now!" Wormtail said, turning to Remus.

"Indeed." Remus chuckled to himself, "It is quite the turn of events. Have you any advice, Wormtail?"

"Deflect his attention from you!" Wormtail replied "...If you need to make a getaway, insult his hair, then flee while he is blind with rage."

"What a splendiferous suggestion, Wormtail!" Remus replied, impressed.

"You appear to have gained some life skills, Wormtail!" Sirius agreed.

"Most becoming of you!" James said brightly.

"It was a necessity." Peter explained, "I have scavenged for a living for the past twelve years-"

"And I have spent it in one room!" Sirius interjected, his tone bright with having a story to tell, "The dementors wouldn't let me decorate it or provide alternative musical arrangements to screaming, it was most agitating. I must make a formal complaint."

They all turned to look at Remus for his update on the last 12 years, "I tried to avoid goring too many people."

"That's the spirit, Moony!" Sirius congratulated, patting the man on the back.

"I have been floating around in astral space," James told his friends, "in somewhat of a specter form"

"Good show, Prongs!" Sirius exclaimed, impressed.

"That does sound rather exciting, Prongs!"

"Alas, it is not so." James replied, woefully, "For nobody else sees me, except the hippogriffs."

"Great Scott!" Dumbledore exclaimed with an air of scholarship, "Perhaps you are now half-hippogriff."

"Half hypocrite more like. Please try and make some semblance of sense, sir."

"I am offended by your lack of trust, lads!"

"And what of young Harry?"

All the men expectantly turned to Harry for his update.

"Oh, um," Harry said, rather confused by this queer turn of events, "I've been mostly in a cupboard, I suppose."

"What sort of cupboard?" James asked, curiously, "A broom cupboard?"

"A spice cupboard?"

"You're all mistaken, chaps!" Sirius declared, " It was an ice cupboard, right, Harry?"

The men looked suitably impressed and Remus commented, "This has the potential to be most interesting!"

"It was just a regular cupboard." Harry replied, feeling bad for letting the men down, "Oak. Painted white. I leased the room out to spiders. They never paid their rent."

"Those devils!"

"What..._rats_? Dare I say, lads! Haha!"

"Oh, what a jester you are, Padfoot!"

"Everybody assumes I make all the stupid jokes!" Sirius said sadly, "Alas, I know nobody whose animagus form is a whale. All those whale of a time jokes, rotting from disuse-"

"As we would be if we were whale animagi!" James pointed out and all the men all began chortling with amusement.

"By jove! You're right!" Sirius agreed, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

"Harry, do make an effort to be a punworthy animal." James encouraged his son, "We're counting on you."

"An octopus perhaps...if we're counting!" Sirius said slyly.

"As long as it's not bubotuber pus. That takes weeks to get out of carpet."

"I say, chaps!" Remus exclaimed, "It is becoming most late in hour and we have not reached a likely solution to our conundrum!"

"The solution is most simple, Moony!" Sirius exclaimed, "For Wormtail has readily admitted to his crimes-"

"It wasn't I, I say!" Peter squeaked in defense of himself.

"-James himself has admitted to the betrayal-"

"Most factual," James agreed, "Ole Wormtail certainly got the best of me, fellows!"

They paused to congratulate Peter on his successes.

"-Peter is most alive, when it is supposed that I murdered him-"

"Perhaps we should get a second opinion," Wormtail asked, "I'm sure I'm not _really_ alive."

"Not for long anyways," Sirius growled.

"Now, now, young Sirius," Dumbledore interjected, "you are a most spirited young man, but we must remain proper and gentlemanly."

"Most certainly."

"Quite."

"Indeed."

"I have been shown the errors of my improper ways," Sirius told the headmaster, suitably chastised.

"I believe," the headmaster said brightly, "that in spite of all evidence presented, it is safe to say that Peter is, in fact, the most dangerous of all you good chaps…while adjusting for full moons, of course."

"A statistical necessity, I'm afraid," Remus agreed.

"Therefore, we shall place Peter into Azkaban and allow Sirius to play the part of pet rodent to young Ronald."

"Excellent!"

"Most logical, indeed, headmaster!"

"I'm not a rat animagus…"

"No, please, don't! Gentlemen, I beg of you!" Peter exclaimed, "I propose a time share! We all share three months a year in Azkaban."

"An accurate split of time, Wormtail! However, there are several logical inconsistencies... Prongs is blatantly dead, and Padfoot has already spent too long in Azkaban, and Moony would be trying to wrestle the dementors every month..."

"Logic always gets in the way of fairness..."

"It is most clear to me," Sirius suggested, "that Peter should spend his three months back to back, for the next twelve years. Upon completion we shall reconvene! This would certainly give us more time to figure out how James and Remus could contribute!"

"Jolly good show! A most amicable notion."

"Shall we still engage in a bout of fisticuffs, then a rousing game of wickerbillards with Peter as the ball?" Sirius asked of his comrades.

"Certainly!"

"How shall we divide teams?

"I'll transfigure Peter, lads! A lemon drop before we begin?"

"What a wonderful idea! I'm glad we've come to such a gentlemanly agreement."

* * *

**_Many, many thanks to everyone who took the time to read this fic and the outtakes, and more thanks to everyone who reviewed! I hope Wolfsbane was as much fun to read as it was to write!_**


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